Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

INDIA-RUSSIA DISCUSS COOPERATION IN JUDICIAL FIELD

A high-level five member Russian Delegation of the Ministry of Justice , Russian Federation, led by the Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr. Dennim called on the Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitely here today and discussed with him matters of mutual interest in the field of law and justice. The Russian Deletation evinced keen interest in getting training in legislative drafting from India which already has a well-established Institute of Legislative Drafting.

The Law Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley gave an overview of Indian judicial system from the Apex Court to the subordinate judiciary and informed the Russian Delegation that the pendency of cases in the High Courts and the subordinate judiciary were embarrassingly very high unlike Russian courts where pendency were about eight million cases. The Law Minster said that whereas the pendency in the Supreme Court of India has come down to around 20,000 cases, the pendency in the High Courts was more than 35 lakh cases and in the subordinate courts 2.04 crore cases. He also informed his Russian counterpart that the Department of Justice under his Ministry had taken steps to expedite pendency of cases in the Supreme Court and the High Courts recently.

Both the sides exchanged the thoughts and experiences veering round commonality both in approach and substance of the judicial system of the two countries. They also exchanged pleasantries. The meeting lasted about one hour and was held in cordial atmosphere.