The Justice Ministry has embarked on a programme to reduce the backlog of pending cases in the various courts in Sri Lanka, Justice Minister Ali Sabry, PC told yesterday.
Sabry said that his Ministry has thought out a remedial programme which includes amending the outdated laws, introducing a digitalisation programme and increasing the number of judges.
“There are some 800,000 pending cases with nearly 400 judges. When we took over, there were only 330 judges and now the number has reached 400,” the minister said, adding that these reforms will introduced gradually in phases.
As a welfare measure among the prisoners, the Justice Ministry has introduced a system to send home
prisoners who have completed half of their jail term at 65 years. Such prisoners should have been convicted for minor offenses to avail themselves of this facility, he said.
“We are planning to introduce a parole system for remand prisoners so that they can stay at home under the control of the prison authorities with an electronic strap in the wrists,” he said, pointing out that this system is found in several foreign countries.
