Delhi, Kerala top in court infrastructure facilities

New Delhi : Delhi and Kerala are among the top performing states while Bihar and Manipur are among the states having the poorest infrastructure in lower judiciary, a survey conducted by a leading independent legal think tank has said.

The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in a study conducted across 665 district courts across 29 states and nine Union Territories has come out with a survey on the physical and digital aspects of court infrastructure.

After Bihar and Manipur, other states ranking lower in infrastructure are Nagaland, West Bengal and Jharkhand and among the high ranking states after Delhi and Kerala are Meghalaya, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Based on the data collected, nine parameters were formulated to understand the state of infrastructure of every district court complex surveyed.

These parameters were identified as: Getting There, Navigation, Waiting Areas, Hygiene, Barrier-Free Access, Case Display, Security, Amenities and Website. According to the survey, 81 per cent (539 of 665) court complexes are accessible via public transport, whereas 80 per cent or 532 of the court complexes have designated parking. "Of the litigants interviewed, the majority (53 per cent) used public transport, while 43 per cent used private transport to get to the court complex.

Four per cent walked to the court complex. The largest number of court complexes inaccessible by public transport were found in the states of Gujarat, Sikkim and Tripura," the survey said. The survey said as per the National Court Management Systems (NCMS) committee, set up in 2012, there should be a guide map, a reception centre along with a facilitation centre, and a document filing counter at the entrance of the complex.

On the issue of navigation, the survey said that study was restricted to examining whether each court complex had two features -- guide map and a help desk. "Only 20 per cent district courts (133 out of 665 court complexes) had guide maps and 45 per cent (300 out of 665 court complexes) had help desks.

In aggregate, West Bengal and Sikkim were among the worst performing states on this parameter. In order to move around the court complex, litigants were rarely able to find their way themselves, and mostly asked lawyers for directions (59 per cent or 3935 litigants)," the survey said.

With regard to waiting area available in the court rooms, the NGO said despite this being a basic requirement, only 54 per cent or 361 district court complexes had designated waiting areas.