State Law Commission to be revived -- CM

State Law Commission to be revived -- CM
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

PUNE, MARCH 19: Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Saturday said the State Law Commission would be revived to simplify and speed up the process of justice. He said that redundant legal procedures and provisions would be done away with.

A nostalgic Deshmukh, speaking to members of the Pune Bar Association (PBA) from where he got his initial lessons in practising law from, also sought help from legal luminaries in strengthening his government's efforts to simplify judicial processes.

In his thanksgiving speech after being felicitated by the PBA, Deshmukh said necessary amendments would be made to legal stipulations related to stamp duty ceilings applicable to the lawyers' society.

Straightforward enough to tell the lawyers that he did not intend to make unrealistic promises to them on their charter of demands, the CM also cribbed about the poor economic condition of the State before announcing a Rs 10 lakh donation for a library at the district and sessions court here. "As Chief Minister, I would like to do something for the PBA," he said.

The commission would review various provisions of cooperation, revenue laws, criminal and civil procedure codes, to eliminate delays in legal processes. This has been an urgent process besides augmenting the infrastructure of the judiciary, he added.

Deshmukh claimed that his government was successful in creating confidence among the people of the State. Incidentally, the eight-party DF government completed five months in office on Saturday.

"It has been a tightrope walk for me," he said while making a point that his government was facing predicaments on dealing with the onion and sugarcane glut and purchase of excess cotton and soyabean. Stating that agriculture would remain the area of thrust for the DF government, he told the lawyers that his government so far has paid Rs 3400 crore to the cotton growers for 172 lakh tonnes of cotton. The State would have to shell out about Rs 7000 crore in the year 2000-2001 to pay interest on the loans.

While remembering a galaxy of legal luminaries, including senior advocates Vijayrao Mohite and late B N Bhide, Deshmukh said that as a junior lawyer, "these seniors were always a role model for me."

The years he spent in the premises of the Pune court in late 60s were the most vital years for him, the CM said. "I learnt many things in Pune, even how to generate votes during elections," he added in a lighter vein.

Earlier, PBA president V G Marne felicitated Deshmukh by presenting him with a shawl, a memento and a list of demands. Marne urged the CM to establish a bench of the Bombay High Court in Pune. "The Pune Municipal Commissioner has not acted upon government directives over accommodating family courts in the corporation premises at Nehru Stadium," he said and underlined the need to bring cooperation and industrial courts and different appellate authorities, currently operating from various diverse locations, under one roof.

Education Minister Ramkrishna More, Minister of State for Excise Chandrakant Shivarkar, president of the Statutory Development Board for rest of Maharashtra Ulhas Pawar and District and Sessions judge V G Munshi graced the occasion.