Govts don’t work, put blame on judiciary for pendency, says SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the Centre and states for not performing their duty to ensure speedy trial and putting the entire blame on the judiciary for slow justice delivery system, while questioning the governments on huge vacancies in 38 Forensic Science Laboratories which are 46% under staffed.

Taking the Centre head on for frequently criticising the judiciary for overstepping its domain and interfering in the functioning of other organs of the state, a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta said the judiciary was always criticised when the courts pointed out their inaction and directed the government to perform its job.

“Nobody wants to work and they criticise the criminal justice system. MHA (ministry of home affairs) just criticises but they do not want to do any work,” the bench said. The court’s observation came when additional solicitor general Aman Lekhi, appearing for the Centre, placed a note of the ministry before the court and said one of the reasons for undertrials languishing in jail was the slow functioning of trial courts.

“It’s like heads we win, tails we win. That is the answer of the government so far as judiciary is concerned,” the bench said. The ASG said the government was not indulging in blame game and the Centre was taking steps to fill vacancies in Central Forensic Science Laboratories.