People's faith in judiciary should be protected: CJI

Vijayawada: Inaugurating the multi-storeyed court complex to house all the courts in the city, Chief Justice of India Justice NV Ramana expressed happiness here on Saturday to inaugurate the court complex for which he laid the foundation stone way back in 2013.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Prashanth Kumar Mishra along with other judges were present.

Earlier, Chief Justice NV Ramana and Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy planted saplings on the court premises to mark the inauguration of the new complex.

Addressing the gathering comprising mostly the members of Bezwada Bar Association, the Chief Justice complimented the Chief Minister for speaking in Telugu and he wished to follow the same.

He recalled that proposals have been sent to the Central government to support the state governments across the country in providing necessary infrastructure for courts and various state governments, including Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal supported the proposal.

The CJI said that if people lose faith and trust in the judiciary, the very survival of democracy will be at stake. Justice Ramana, who is scheduled to demit office next week, said it was necessary to ensure that people do not lose faith and trust in the judiciary.

"If the people lose the faith and trust in judiciary and if the judiciary collapses, the very survival of democracy will be at stake," he said.

Expressing concern over the pending cases in various courts across the country, he said that he tried his level best to fill the vacancies of judge posts by appointing 250 judges and 15 judges in various high courts and 11 Supreme Court judges after he was appointed as chief justice.

He recalled that his association with the Bezwada Bar Association where he started his career as an advocate, he called upon the senior advocates to guide the young generation to succeed in the profession. The estimate of Rs 55 crore for the court complex had exceeded to Rs 100 crore, he said and thanked the state government for its support. He appealed to the Chief Minister to extend same cooperation and support for completing the court complex at Visakhapatnam.

The Chief Minister said that it was a moment to cherish for ever that the court complex was inaugurated by the son of the soil who also laid the foundation stone.

Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Prashanth Kumar Mishra said that the cases would be settled fast with the inauguration of the new court complex. He thanked the Chief Minister for the cooperation.

AP High Court judges Justice Pravin Kumar, Justice Battu Devanand, Justice Kongara Vijayalakshmi, Justice V R Krupa Sagar, principal district judge Aruna Sarika, Bezwada Bar Association president Chandragiri Vishnuvardhan and others were present.