In keeping with the Centre's decision last year to extend by five years the centrally sponsored scheme for the development of infrastructure for the judiciary, the Union budget for 2022-23 has allocated Rs 858 crore for the project, an increase from the Rs 784.44 crore provided under the plan in the previous financial year.
The enhanced allocation under the scheme comes in the backdrop of a persistent demand by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana for setting up a National Judicial Infrastructure Authority, which he insists will bring uniformity and standardisation in upgrading the court infrastructure. Lower-level courts are found to be in a particularly bad state.
While the Centre has so far been non-committal about the proposal for setting up the authority, it has responded by underlining that the Central scheme has been extended by five years. The scheme has been in place since 1993-94, and the government has allocated Rs 9,000 crore for its implementation for the five-year period from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2026.
Of the Rs 9,000 crore, Rs 5,357 crore would be provided by the Centre, including Rs 50 crore under the Gram Nyayalaya Scheme. The remaining amount has to be contributed by the states.
Meanwhile, the overall budget estimate for the law and justice ministry for 2022-23 has been pegged at Rs 3,393.48 crore. The amount allocated to the ministry in the previous financial year was Rs 2,645.82 crore, which was revised upwards to Rs 4,211 crore.
The Supreme Court has been provided a budgetary allocation of Rs 401.46 crore in 2022-23. The budget estimate for the top court in 2021-22 was Rs 334.96 crore, which was revised upwards to Rs 350.86 crore.
An amount of Rs 200 crore has been allocated under the Nirbhaya Fund to set up fast-track courts to try cases of sexual crimes against women. Under the fund, Rs 180 crore was utilised in 2021-22 to set up fast-track courts.
The project for Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice in India (DISHA) has been allocated Rs 40 crore, the same as the previous financial year.
The scheme aims to merge all Access to Justice programmes being implemented by the department of justice. An amount of Rs 1 crore has been provided for phase III of the e-courts project.
