REFUGEE

Tamils look over a fence as they stand inside a camp in Vavuniya. Sri Lanka has been criticised for actions that earlier this year led to thousands being displaced without proper humanitarean access. Photograph: Reuters

Sri Lanka has been blocked from hosting the next meeting of Commonwealth leaders in protest at Colombo's military repression against the Tamil population earlier this year.

Australia will instead host the next biennial Commonwealth heads of government meeting in 2011 after Canberra and London joined forces to block the Sri Lankan bid.

The decision, made at the summit in Trinidad and Tobago over the weekend, is a victory for Gordon Brown and his Australian counterpart, Kevin Rudd.

Brown faced down advice from the Foreign Office to issue a strong briefing on the eve of the summit last week that Britain would block the Sri Lankan bid.

British diplomats were nervous when the British media, including the Guardian, reported that Brown would tell Commonwealth leaders that it would be unacceptable for a gathering of one of the world's largest collection of democracies to be hosted by Sri Lanka. Officials in Colombo, who had expected to be able to host the 2011 summit after formally submitting a bid in 2007, were said to be alarmed by the strength of the No 10 briefing.

A Downing Street source said on Thursday: "We simply cannot be in a position where Sri Lanka – whose actions earlier this year had a huge impact on civilians, leading to thousands of displaced people without proper humanitarian access – is seen to be rewarded for its actions."

Colombo ended a 26-year civil war this year in a campaign against the Tamil Tigers. Up to 300,000 people were held as they fled the last days of the fighting.

The Australians are expected to hold the 2011 summit in Perth.

Brown and Rudd, who are natural political allies on the centre left, joined forces on a series of fronts at this year's meeting. They worked closely on climate change and persuaded the 53 Commonwealth members to accept a $22.5bn (£13.6bn) climate change finance package.

British officials regarded the blocking of Sri Lanka and the climate change package as triumphs. They were particularly pleased that Stephen Harper, the centre-right Canadian prime minister, who is regarded in London as an "outlier" on climate change, signed up to the package.

But Harper only accepted the package in a one-to-one meeting with Brown, shortly before a banquet on Friday hosted by the Queen. Brown told Harper he should drop his concerns about the cost of funding climate change initiatives in the developing world because it would end up costing more if the $22.5bn package, covering 2010-13, was rejected.

Brown then asked Harper to persuade John Key, New Zealand's centre-right prime minister, who also had doubts. Harper agreed and succeeded.

Britain was also encouraged by support for its proposal to readmit Zimbabwe to the Commonwealth in 2011. Harare will be allowed back if Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party implements a series of reforms.

(From left) Chief Justice of the Madras High Court H.L. Gokhale, Law Minister Durai Murugan, Supreme Court Judges P. Sathasivam and R.V. Raveendran, at a function in Chennai on Sunday.

CHENNAI: Law Minister Durai Murugan requested the judiciary to make efforts to reduce the backlog of cases piled up in various courts in the State and said that the government had taken a series of steps to help improve facilities for the judiciary.

“The total number of cases pending in the Madras High Court, its Bench at Madurai and subordinate courts in Tamil Nadu at the end of 2008 was 14.68 lakh. Now the pendency will be much more. Efforts should be made to reduce it,” he said at the valedictory of the South Zone Regional Judicial Conference on the theme ‘Enhancing Timely Justice: Strengthening Criminal Justice,’ organised by the Madras High Court, National Judicial Academy, Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy and Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority.

Mr. Murugan said that the State government had spent Rs.306 crore for the establishment of new courts and construction of combined court/quarters building for judicial officers from 2006-07 till 2008-09 and they would continue to give importance to allocating adequate funds for infrastructure to all levels of judiciary in the State.

To provide timely justice to victims, Supreme Court Judge R.V. Raveendran on Sunday suggested several measures, such as conducting continuous trial on day-to-day basis, and asked the judicial officers not to take up ‘light cases.’

“Let’s us go back to those days. Continuous trial will have a saluting effect and result”, he said. “We need the cooperation of police and investigating agencies. Police should provide the witness. This will be the first step towards providing timely justice.”

He also asked the judges not to turn away witnesses but to deal them with courteously. “They are not criminals. Make some effort. But don’t send them away as some of them have to apply for a day’s leave. If they are not treated properly, they will not have faith in the system,” he said. Concern should be shown to the poor, needy and downtrodden. He also emphasised the role of the Bar in reducing the pendency of cases.

Supreme Court Judge P. Sathasivam said that judicial officers should be careful while dealing with matrimonial offences, offences against women, children and persons with disability.

He asked the participants to be thorough with statutory powers, recent cases of medical negligence, results of scientific investigations, new types of investigations and new types of offences to deliver justice to victims in sensitive cases.

The Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, H.L. Gokhale; Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy president V. Dhanapalan; and Judges of Madras High Court D. Murugesan and M. Sathyanarayanan were among those who highlighted aspects of jurisprudence at the valedictory session.