Chief Justice of Madras High Court Justice Vijaya K. Tahilramani on Tuesday said that earnest steps were being taken to reduce pendency of cases in the State by increasing the number of courts and posting judicial officers.

Inaugurating the combined court buildings and residential quarters for judicial officers at Manapparai, Justice Tahilramani said that it was important to reduce the number of pending cases. The High Court was looking into the issue and had taken a number of steps for early disposal of cases in order to serve litigants in a better manner.

The Chief Justice said that most of the courts, which were functioning in rented buildings, had moved to own buildings. The new buildings inaugurated at Manapparai would serve the purpose well, she said.

Calling upon judicial officers and members of bar associations to strengthen the judicial system to improve the efficiency of justice delivery mechanism, Justice Tahilramani said that they had a vital role to play in improving the efficiency of courts and upholding the rule of law. The most important duty of the advocates was not only to serve their clients but also the court, the society and their profession. The important duty of advocates was to uphold the interest of clients earnestly by all fair means.

The commoners considered courts as the ultimate guardian of their rights and liberty. Awareness of seeking legal recourse to get grievances redressed has gone up. So, the judiciary had to improve its standards to meet the aspirations of the people.

Judges and advocates were important part of judicial system. Whatever might be the circumstances, they should be firm in their approach. Judges must inspire confidence among the litigant public, she said. Advocates could not be seen indulging in acts that diminished the respect on the legal profession. Otherwise, people would lose confidence in them, she added.

Justice M. Duraiswamy and Justice C.V. Karthikeyan, Judges, Madras High Court, Tiruchi Collector S. Sivarasu, Tiruchi Principal District and Sessions Judge K. Murali Shankar, K. Senguttuvan and V. Selvaraj, president and secretary of Manapparai Bar Association and others participated.

The Chief Justice also laid the foundation stone for construction of quarters for the Sub Judge, Thuraiyur, compound wall and provision of drinking water for the judicial officers quarters in Tiruchi on the occasion.