By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 24, 2016 : Odisha government is planning to set up 29 new courts including four family courts, Lok Adalats, Legal Literacy Camps and Legal Assistance Cells in every gram panchayat of the state, chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday said while addressing the joint conference of chief ministers and the chief justices of high courts in New Delhi.

The conference was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and presided over by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur.

The chief minister informed that Odisha has made substantial progress in implementation of important decisions taken during the last Joint Conference held on April 5, 2015 in order to ensure timely delivery of justice to common citizens.

He also mentioned that 30 courts of Judicial Magistrate First Class have been established for ensuring speedy trial of offences against women in the state.

Besides, 26 additional courts of Judicial Magistrate First Class have been set up in remote and topographically challenging districts and the government has established Gramya Nyayalayas in remote areas of the state to cater to the rural population.

“The Orissa High Court has been strengthened with the construction of a litigant friendly modern court complex and that the state has set up an impressive Odisha Judicial Academy for imparting quality training and capacity building of the Judicial officers. In addition, a state level mediation centre and 21 district level mediation centres have been operationalised for early disposal of cases in the state,” said Patnaik.

“Construction works of 17 district court buildings covering all the newly created districts and a major judicial complex at Bhubaneswar to accommodate all the courts under a single roof at a cost of about Rs 200 crore are currently under progress. Odisha has agreed to bear all the recurring expenses required to implement e-Court projects beyond the period supported by the Central Government and to support digitization of records of the Orissa High Court,” he added.

Patnaik, however, expressed his concern at the long pendency of cases in the state and urged the Union Government to fill up the vacant eight posts of Judges in the Orissa High Court at the earliest.

He also urged the Union Government to supplement the efforts of the State Government by providing additional resources for creating court infrastructure, residential buildings and other amenities while highlighting that despite non-receipt of central assistance since 2014 Odisha has been making every possible effort to strengthen the court infrastructure.