COIMBATORE: Senior lawyers and members of bars in Tamil Nadu should train their juniors to enable them to take judicial examinations and make them judicial magistrates, district judges and district munsifs and the advocates must ensure that the court hours are not wasted and court proceedings are not disturbed at any cost, said Madras high court judge Justice S Vaidyanathan on Saturday.
Speaking after the inauguration of a special court in the cadre of district judge for trial of case under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 in Coimbatore through video conferencing, Justice Vaidyanathan said there is shortage of judicial officers and staff members at various levels in Tamil Nadu.
With the delegate position, the bar is very fortunate to have the special court in Coimbatore. Advocates should cooperate with the presiding officers to dispose of the many cases.
“Senior advocates and members of the bars should train the juniors to enable them to take the judicial examinations and make them district munsif and judicial magistrates and district judges.
Every judicial officer should discharge their duty with integrity, honesty and devotion which are like shields. In the democratic society, if people lose faith in the justice delivery system, it will be a confusion and chaos and the entire democratic system will come to a standstill.
“Fearless and impartial justice is the foundation of democracy,” said Justice Vaidyanathan.
He added that everyone is aware that justice delayed is justice denied and justice cannot be in a hurry to bury.
Justice K Murali Shankar, judge, Madras high court, said all are equal before the law and Section 14 of the Constitution of India talks about the equality.
All the citizens should be treated equally, and the government should entrust it. In July 2023, dalit youths were assaulted by a group who urinated on dalit youths and the cases were reported from Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. In Bihar, a dalit woman was badly treated for not repaying the amount in September 2023 and two youths were badly injured and a group of youths urinated on the dalit youths.
“We are moving towards the artificial intelligence (AI) era from the computer age. Such incidents would create a fear that we were not going on the right path. During our school days, all the books were printed on the first page that untouchability is a sin, crime and inhuman. But the people’s mentality has not changed in the last many decades,” said Murali Shankar.
He also added that this was the 18th special court in the state to deal with the SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act cases. “Around 6,500 SC/ST cases are pending before the courts in the state,” said Judge Murali Shankar.
Madras high court judges S Sathi Kumar and SS Sundar, principal district and sessions judge G Vijaya , Coimbatore district collector Kranthi Kumar Pati, commissioner of police V Balakrishnan and superintendent of police V Badrinarayanan also spoke.
