The XI Finance Commission has recommended creation of over 1,700 fast track courts in the country for disposal of long pending cases, Union Law Minister H R Bharwaj said Friday.

Innaugurating an international conference on 'Access to Justice : Law, Policy and Institutions', Bhardwaj said that these courts would be for a period of five years and Rs 500 crore have been allocated for the purpose. Bhardwaj told the delegates that the Centre also plans to introduce a bill in Parliament to set up mobile rural courts known as 'Gram Nyayalayas' to make justice available at doorsteps to people in villages.

The law minister said, "the 'Gram Nyayalayas' would function in villages at the intermediate panchayat level or local governance councils so that people living in villages do not have to spend money to travel to towns and cities in pursuit of justice".

These courts would have the power to try both criminal and civil cases upto a limit of Rs one lakh and would be required to dispose of cases within three months by holding summary trials in public, said Bhardwaj.

Chairman of National Human Rights Commission and former Chief Justice of India, Justice A S Anand said, "Public Interest Litigation is potent weapon in the hands of people but must be used with caution as the courts cannot run the government. The conference was organised by the Yale Law School of US in collaboration with Legal Education and Research Society, a Delhi-based non-governmental legal education and research promotion organisation and the United Nations Development Programme.