Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu on Thursday urged law professionals and legal luminaries to suggest ways to defeat attempts made by few vested interest persons to stall developmental projects by resorting to legal tactics and taking advantage of justice delivery systems.
Speaking at the one-day online National Symposium on ‘Justice Delivery Mechanism in India: Existing Concerns and Evolving Dimensions’, organized by the Rajiv Gandhi University’s social work and law department, Khandu observed that people knock the doors of the court for justice, but at times, there are people who are out to exploit the judicial system.
“Such people, for their vested interests, take recourse to Court proceedings and try to stall public interest, public administration, official discipline and conduct of government business. Most of the times, they succeed in their malicious design that hamper developmental works and cause huge loss to the state exchequer,” the chief minister said and appealed legal luminaries to discuss it and suggest ways to defeat such designs.
Lauding RGU for organizing the symposium to commemorate the Constitution Day celebrations, Khandu pointed out that the founders of the Constitution prepared a futuristic, dynamic, holistic and vibrant document that reflects the ideals and aspirations of the country on one hand and protects the future of all Indians on the other.
“To secure justice and strengthen the justice delivery mechanism, three major institutions- Police, Courts and Prisons need to act impartially, in all fairness and should demonstrate reasonableness in decision-making. These three institutions form the three pillars on which justice is delivered in our country,” he said and assured to support the Courts and make policing robust and transparent.
“Let me assure you through this e-symposium that no criminal would go unpunished. It is my standing instruction to the state police that no innocent person should be harassed and no criminal should be let off under any influence whatsoever,” the chief minister said.
Stressing on the importance to create awareness on fundamental duties along with fundamental rights, Khandu called on the need for regular capacity building, training and soft skills improvement for law enforcement agencies, strengthening of public grievances mechanism for speedy and efficient justice delivery.
“On this Constitution Day, let us all pledge to respect the rule of law and continue to look at our Constitution as the guiding light of our democratic governance,” he added.
Governor Brig (Retd) B D Mishra chaired the symposium that was attended by Chief Justice (acting) of Gauhati High Court Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Judges of Gauhati High Court, Itanagar Permanent Bench, Justice Nani Tagia and Justice Parthiv Jyoti Saikia, who spoke in detail on the theme.