Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for the Judiciary

Backgrounder:

• To augment the resources of the State Governments for development of infrastructure facilities for the judiciary, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) has remained in operation since 1993-94.
• Keeping in mind the inadequacy of infrastructure in subordinate courts, the allocation for the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for development of infrastructure facilities for the judiciary has been increased from Rs. 110 crore to Rs. 542.90 crore in 2011-12.
• Under the National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms, the scheme has been modified and the central share revised from 50:50 to 75:25.  The share for NE is in the ratio of 90:10 (90 being central share).
• The modified scheme covers only the District and Subordinate courts as Planning Commission has approved funding of proposals for construction of new High Court buildings with Additional Central Assistance (ACA) in the ratio of 30:70, Centre’s contribution being 30%.
• Supreme Court is also monitoring the progress of infrastructure provisioning to subordinate judiciary and monitoring committees at State and Central level have been constituted.
• A projectised approach to completion of infrastructure of subordinate judiciary would be a major programme under the Mission. States have been requested to draw up plans for construction / refurbishment with clear timelines for completion.
• A fresh assessment of requirement of infrastructure for subordinate courts revealed that funds to the tune of Rs.7,346 crore were needed.
• An amount of Rs. 542.90 crore has already been provided during 2011-12.  It is estimated that to meet the needs of the States, at least Rs. 5,000 crore needs to be provided over the next 5 years.
• Since the inception of the scheme and upto 2010-11, an amount of Rs. 1,247.36 crore has been released to the States / UTs.
• Against an outlay of Rs. 701.08 crore for the Eleventh Plan Period (2007-12), an amount of Rs. 549.01 crore has been released to the State Governments during first four years of the Eleventh Five Year Plan.
• The outlay for the scheme for 2011-12 is Rs. 542.90 crore, out of which Rs. 224.19 crore has been released so far.