Justice that is delayed is forgotten: chief justice of India

NEW DELHI, Aug 15 (Agencies): Delayed justice and the tardy disposal of cases could result in people losing faith in the judiciary, Chief Justice of India K.G.

Balakrishnan said Wednesday after hoisting the tricolour at the Supreme Court.

'The people's faith in the judicial system begins to wane, because justice that is delayed is forgotten, excluded and finally discarded,' the chief justice told a gathering on the occasion of India's 60th anniversary of independence.

He said the backlog of cases continued to mount despite the best efforts of the judiciary and urged the government to improve infrastructure so cases could be disposed of faster.

Balakrishnan called for setting up of 'high quality and modernised training academies' for judges and lawyers to dispose cases faster.

Such academies needed to be set up at the lower judiciary level, he said.

'The lower judiciary is hindered with the problem of inadequate infrastructure, as well as poor working conditions in certain areas.

This is a pressing concern, since most cases do not go beyond the lower judiciary.

'It is thus imperative to modernise the lowest rungs of the judicial system and introduce high quality and modernised training academies for the judges and lawyers.

This will make for a better workforce,' he observed.

He expressed his satisfaction at the innovative evening courts, mobile courts and e-courts set up by various high courts to make justice accessible to people living in the remotest parts of the country.

According to the latest figures, there are 25 million cases pending in the lower court, 3.6 million in the high courts and 43,580 in the Supreme Court.

Quattrochi walks free after India withdraws appeal in Argentina NEW DELHI, Aug 15 (Agencies): Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochi, wanted in the multimillion Bofors pay-off scam, has left Argentina for Milan, five days after the Indian government reportedly withdrew its appeal against an Argentine court's rejection of its extradition petition.

On June 8, a court in Iguazu, Argentina, had rejected the application of India's Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to extradite Quattrochi.

Quattrochi, the 69-year-old Italian businessman, reportedly boarded a flight from Buenos Aires to Milan after the authorities returned his passport.

He was allowed to leave Argentina after fighting a six-month legal battle.

The CBI reportedly failed to produce the arrest warrant issued against him by a court here in 1997.

On the basis of this warrant, Quattrochi had been detained at Iguazu airport on Feb 6, while in transit to Buenos Aires.

CBI continues to allege that Quattrocchi took $7 million in bribes as a middleman in the $1.2 billion purchase of artillery from Swedish arms maker Bofors AB for the Indian Army.

However, he maintains that the Indian authorities have wrongly framed him.

Meanwhile, the CBI officials here remained tight-lipped about Quattrocchi's flight to Milan, but some sources in the investigating agency blamed the ministry of external affairs - specifically the Indian embassy in Buenos Aires -for not keeping the CBI informed about legal developments in the case.