17 March 2021 02:10 pm
There are only 15 Judges per one million people in Sri Lanka and the whole country has only 378 Judges to handle ongoing court cases, addressing a seminar on importance of protecting victims and witness today, Justice Minister Ali Sabry said.
The Minister said in developed countries there are 200 Judges per one million people and in the middle income countries, it is 65-70 Judges per one million people.
"This is a serious matter in our current legal system and during my tenure I am hoping to double the number of Judges in the Judicial system," he said.
He also said that in the current legal system, it takes a longer period to conclude a case and initially to end a trial at High Court, it takes 10 years.
"I'm not going to address the technical facts pertaining to the Act on protection of victims of crime and witnesses, but I must say there is lesser investment in the Judicial system," he said.
Minister Sabry said there were nearly 5000 cases at District Courts which have been spanning for over 20 years without any conclusion.
"We have not infiltrated technology and outdated laws which are the causes of these issues at the current legal system," he said.(Yoshitha Perera)