New Delhi, Dec 28: The Supreme Court has expressed anguish over "unhappy state of affairs" of lower courts which take years in concluding the trial and said the proceedings must be concluded within a reasonable time.
 A bench of justices Swatanter Kumar and Madan B Lokur said the governments and the courts must gear up the administrative machinery for quick disposal of cases.
 "It is high time that the state and the courts gear up their administrative machinery so that at least a trial for a heinous offence gets concluded within a reasonable period," said the bench while delivering a verdict in a 1983 case in which trial went on for 14 long years.
 "The investigation took almost four years to complete despite eyewitnesses who knew the appellant. The trial concluded after another 14 years or about 18 years after the murder. This is a rather unhappy state of affairs," the bench said.
 In this case, the bench upheld the trial court's verdict awarding life imprisonment to the convict.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 28 Dec 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 28 Dec 2012 18:30:00 GMT
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