Chief Justice shows concern over lack of infrastructure in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court

Tribune News Service
Jammu, July 3

The Chief Justice (CJ) of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice Gita Mittal, today expressed concern over the lack of basic infrastructure in the High Court (HC), saying “it had been facing acute shortage of space”.

Justice Gita Mittal, who had an interaction with lawyers of Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh through Virtual mode, said, “The HC was constructed to accommodate seven Judges only, but at present, with a total working strength of 13 Judges, it is facing acute shortage of space.”

“Due to poor infrastructure and acute shortage of space, the HC is not able to start e-filing and other IT-related activities,” the CJ said, adding “The HC needs auditorium, crèches, child care rooms, witness assistance rooms, more parking space and other facilities which are not possible in the present building owing to its old design and inability to support further expansion”.

Terming the Bar and Bench as two faces of the same coin, the CJ emphasised that the two had to work in close coordination for creating adequate infrastructure for the HC as well as for the District and subordinate courts of the UTs.

The CJ informed the lawyers that after sanctioning financial assistance for lawyers practising in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, the process for providing financial aid to advocates practising in Ladakh and to munshis working with advocates, who were in dire need of help due to the Covid pandemic, had also been set in motion.

She also informed the lawyers that recently sanction had been accorded for providing the second instalment of Rs 2,500 each as financial assistance to the advocates of J&K who had been given the first instalment of Rs 3,000 by directly transferring the amount into their accounts.

She advised the judicial officers to use various tools of technology for dispensing justice in the prevailing crisis.