The 23rd Commonwealth Law Conference was inaugurated today by Goa Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai. 

The five-day conference, which is being held from March 5-9, 2023, was also attended by Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju and Chief Minister of Goa Dr. Pramod Sawant. The Conference has 500 delegates from 52 countries in attendance.

During his address, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju emphasized the importance of the conference as a platform for open discussions on critical issues. He stated that the law must be comprehensible to the common man to achieve its desired result. He further highlighted the government's commitment to good governance and the welfare of the people.

Focus on Good governance and Welfare of the people

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said that Good Governance has many facets and characteristics. He stated that the objective or goal is to see that corruption is minimized and eliminated and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. He further stated that the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed in promoting good governance by emphasising not only for ease of doing business but also ease of living. The concept of Rule of law has a big role in this regard, he added.

Removing Obsolete Laws

The government has undertaken a big exercise to repeal obsolete and archaic laws and 1486 such as have been removed from the statute book in the last 8 years, informed the Union Law & Justice Minister. He also said that in the coming Parliament session, Union Ministry of Law and Justice is set to bring a bill to repeal 65 more obsolete laws and other such provisions.

Prioritising use of Technology

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju also spoke about how the Government was prioritizing the use of technology. Government has started eCourts phase III with an aim of making the Indian Judiciary completely paperless. On the Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business front, he informed that about 13,000 compliance burdens have been simplified while more than 1,200 processes have been digitized.

The Law Minister went on to describe the various steps taken for mitigating the hardship of the common people in justice dispensation such as Virtual Courts, E-seva kendras and Information Kiosks at High Courts. He also spoke of systems set up for e-filing of pleadings and supporting documents at High Courts and District Courts. This enabled lawyers to file their cases 24x7 as per their convenience.