Rajnath Singh: Armed Forces Tribunal to help in speedy justice to defence personnel

New Delhi [India], August 20 : Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed a seminar on 'Introspection: Armed Forces Tribunal', organized by Armed Forces Tribunal (Principal Bench) Bar Association today in New Delhi.
The seminar also saw the presence of Union Minister of Law & Justice Kiren Rijiju, Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pandey, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhary and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar.
The Defence Minister stressed the fact that the judiciary is a very essential part of democracy and the judicial officers, and lawyers are the base on which this pillar functions and requested the personnel in the judiciary to work diligently for the timely delivery of justice.
Rajnath Singh said, "The government is committed to making the Armed Forces Tribunal more empowered, responsive and implementing measures that were required in this direction."
Addressing the gathering, he said the judiciary is a strong pillar of democracy, and judicial officers and lawyers are in turn pillars of this judicial system. He said people knock on the doors of the judiciary when all other options were closed to them and sound justice delivery systems were the basis for "Suraj" or good governance.
Singh added that domain-specific Tribunals were set up to deal with diverse cases and clear pending cases. He stressed that litigants have trust in our judiciary and that whatever measures required were being implemented, such as filling up vacancies in the tribunals, to expedite the justice delivery process.
He also assured the gathering that the government would consider suggestions that would emerge from the seminar to fulfil the aspirations of ex-servicemen, and serving personnel for the speedy delivery of justice.
He called for a balance between 'justice delayed is justice denied' and 'Justice hurried is justice buried' to lessen the burden of pendency on the judicial system in general and the Armed Forces Tribunal in particular as the timely delivery of justice will not only reduce the burden on Armed Forces Tribunal but will also reinforce the confidence of our soldiers in the system.
Singh informed the gathering that in India, Armed Forces Tribunal has both Original and Appellate Jurisdiction whereas even today in some developed countries such as USA and UK, they only have appellate jurisdiction. It is very significant as the Armed Forces Tribunal is an important forum for redressal of grievances of Armed Forces personnel, ex-servicemen, and their families.
He further stated that this introspective seminar on Armed Forces Tribunal has acquired added significance today when the country is celebrating 'Aazadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' and recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call on 'Panch Pran' for making India a developed country, freeing it from colonial mindset, being proud of our heritage and doing our duty. Introspection, or observation, has been given great importance in the Indian tradition, Singh added.