Patna, December 9: Bihar’s government will establish 100 fast-track courts across the state to speed up the disposal of more than 1.8 million pending criminal cases, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary said on Sunday.
Choudhary said the new courts would ease pressure on the existing judicial system and ensure quicker handling of sensitive cases. “The state government is committed to speeding up the judicial process. People should not suffer due to delays in court cases,” he told reporters in Patna.
Eight of the fast-track courts will be set up in the capital Patna, while four each will come up in Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and Bhagalpur. Several other districts, including Nalanda, Rohtas, Saran, Begusarai, Vaishali, East Champaran, Samastipur and Madhubani, will get three courts each. Two courts will be created in more than 25 districts, and one each in Naugachia and Bagaha subdivisions.
Choudhary, who also heads the Home Department, said 79 of the 100 courts would be designated as Act Courts to expedite cases filed under the Arms Act. Faster disposal of such cases would help strengthen law and order, he said.
To operationalise the courts, the state plans large-scale recruitment, with about 900 positions to be filled for each court, including clerks, stenographers, data entry operators, drivers and process servers.
In a separate development, Industry Minister Dilip Kumar Jaiswal said the government was considering forming a Bihar Industrial Security Force, modelled on the Central Industrial Security Force, to improve safety for investors and industrial units. “A new environment has emerged among investors, and it is essential to provide a safe industrial ecosystem,” he said.
The announcement comes days after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar chaired a high-level meeting to review industrial development plans aimed at attracting ₹50 lakh crore of investment over the next five years.
