On Judicial Councils to advise Centre-State share in judicial budgets

Enabling the justice system to discharge its functions efficiently is the joint responsibility of Central and State Governments. While the administrative expenses of the Supreme Court and High Courts are charged upon the Consolidated Funds of the Centre and States respectively, there is no such financial arrangement guaranteed by the Constitution for subordinate judiciary. Judicial planning and budget making ought to be undertaken jointly by the judiciary and the executive for which some joint forum needs to be established. An expert committee set up by the Union Law Ministry recommended the setting up of "Judicial Councils" at the State and Central levels for the purpose which the Commission endorses. These Councils should not only prepare the judicial budget for approval by the Legislature but also decide on the proportion of sharing the budget expenditure between Centre and States on the basis of the data on the workload of courts under Lists I, II and III.

The idea is not to make the States bear the entire expenditure on Subordinate Courts which devote substantial time and resources to enforce the laws made by Parliament under List I and List III.

Finally, the Commission is of the view that Central Government must make an assessment of the number of courts needed for efficient adjudication of disputes arising out of Central laws and establish the required number of Additional Courts as stipulated under Article 247 of the Constitution.