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Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday told the eighth meeting of the Ministers of Justice of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states that it will be appropriate for India to continue to deal with legal assistance and legal relations on criminal and civil cases on bilateral basis.
He also said that India has been working relentlessly to eliminate corruption in all possible forms.
“The approach of the Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is of zero tolerance to corruption and black money,” Rijiju asserted, according to a spokesperson of the Law Ministry.
India, the minister said, has a sound legal framework backed by strong institutional mechanism to deal with corruption.
An independent and effective judicial system with inherent constitutional powers to take up public interest litigations is another robust safeguard to deal with corruption he told the meet.
Referring to the SCO convention on legal assistance and legal relations in civil cases, Rijiju said, “When it comes to SCO convention on legal assistance and legal relations in civil cases, our views (are) not necessary for the SCO context as there are existing mechanism on the same issue on bilateral level.
“So it will be appropriate for India to continue to deal with legal assistance and legal relations on criminal and civil cases on bilateral basis,” he said.
According to an official statement, the minister apprised the gathering the slew of legislative and executive measures taken by India to be largely UNCAC (UN Convention against Corruption) compliant and underscored the high priority, the Government has given to resolving disputes through alternate dispute resolution; framing business facilitating laws and rules, including Commercial Courts Act and arbitration laws with a view to make India a preferred destination for investment and business.
Rijiju mentioned the role of actions taken by India under Disaster Management Act for effective management and containing the spread of Covid and to lay down substantive guideline to ensure appropriate health protocol and medical facilities.
The law minister also highlighted various facets of provisioning of free legal aid to marginalised sections of the society. In this regard, he also informed launching of e-Lok Adalat, an effective tool to settle disputes, combining technology and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism which offer a faster, transparent and accessible option to the citizens of the country.
The ministers of law and justice, senior officials and experts from the ministries of law and justice of India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan participated in the virtual meeting.
The next meeting will be hosted by Pakistan.
