Imphal, November 30 2010: State government got relief finally when Centre agreed to continue providing Financial assistance for functioning of two Fast Track Courts which state government had extended for two years.

Government extended the term of two First Track Courts, Additional District and Session Court (FTC), Manipur East and Additional District and Session Court (FTC), Manipur West working in the state along with the posts created for functioning of the said two courts for one year till March, 2011 .

First Tract Courts, mention may be made, were set up in 2005 for a period of five years with the objective of speedy disposal of cases pending in the lower courts with financial assistance from the Central government.

The term expired in March this year.

But Manipur government extended the term for another year considering the number of cases disposed by the two Fast Track Courts (FTCs) during the five years' tenure.

A total of 792 cases pending in different lower courts were disposed by the two FTCs in five years.

FTC Manipur East disposed 677 cases at an average of 135.4 per year while the rest 792 cases were disposed by the FTC Manipur wast at the average of 158.4 a year.

State government extended the tenure of these two courts amidst the strong apprehension of its finance department on the additional financial burden to be given to the state government and had remained unable to extend the term of the posts of these two courts.

However, Union ministry of Law and Justice informed the state government, in reply to the financial assistance sought by the state for the two courts, that Centre has decided to extend the central funding for the FTCs across the country for another year at the rate of Rs 4.80 lakh a year to each FTC.

The intimation to the state government clearly mention that there will be no central funding for the Fast Track Courts beyond March 31, 2011 .

It further stated that the central assistance for 2010-11 will be made available to a minimum of 156 FTCs which were in operation since March 2005.Among the courts financial assistance are to be provided for, the two FTCs of the state are also included, officials in the law department disclosed.

Mention may be made that at the time of extension of the term of the two FTCs, Manipur government decided that all the expenditure during this period will be borne by the state government pending re-imbursement from the Centre.

However, government could not extend the tenure of 17 posts which were created on an ad-hoc basis for the smooth functioning of the courts in addition to the deputed posts from the state law department.

With the Centre agreeing to provide financial assistance, law department has issued an order extending the tenure of the 17 posts with the consent of the state government, officials disclosed.

In extending the tenure of the 17 ad-hoc posts, the law department will incurr a cost of Rs 27,95,464 per annum, the source added.

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