Young advocates in the state of Tamil Nadu would receive a monthly stipend of 3,000 for a duration of two years. It was a long pending request of the legal union. Making the declaration in the state assembly on Friday, minister for law, courts and prisons C Ve Shanmugam said the government would also improve the advocates' clerks welfare fund from 2 lakh to 4 lakh.

The government would provide 60 Apple i-pads Pro along with cover and stylus for use by judges of Madras high court and its Madurai bench at an expense of 80.93 lakh.

"Additional classrooms will be constructed in government law colleges in Trichy and Chengalpet at a cost of 11.71 crore," he said. The government law colleges in Vellore and Ramnad districts would give postgraduate courses from the coming academic year and 50 lakh would be allotted for it.

The government would also take up the preservation and restoration of heritage buildings at the district munsif-cum-judicial magistrate court at Vandavasi in Tiruvannamalai district and district munsif court in Coimbatore, which is famously recognized as Kuthira Vandi (horse cart) court, at an expense of 10 crores.

Digital signage display system would be introduced in 260 court complexes (each two) in the state at an expense of 10.26 crore, said the minister. The government would comprise of 14 additional courts in various districts, he declared. The government has been enhancing the infrastructure and authorizing judges and public prosecutors after getting the draft warning from the HC to bring down pendency of cases.

Earlier, MLA C.V.M.P Ezhilarasaon of DMK said the government should lengthen the working hours of the judiciary to reduce the pendency of cases.

In Tamil Nadu, the total Covid-19 cases crossed 98 thousand mark with 4343 people tested positive yesterday. The new patients include two members of the State Legislative Assembly belonging to the ruling AIADMK. They are admitted into hospitals. Meanwhile, the State Health Minister Dr C Vijayabhaskar has said the government is taking measures to further enhance testing of people who are suspected to be the carriers of the virus.

AIR correspondent reports, the Tamil Nadu government has placed an order for procuring ten lakh additional RT-PCR kits to augment the ongoing Covid-19 tests. Talking to reporters in Chennai yesterday, the state health minister Dr. C Vijayabhaskar said 93 percent of the funds required for the kits are being met from the state resources. As a measure of capacity expansion, a 750-bed new Covid-19 care facility in Chennai with all required infrastructure like a laboratory, CT-Scan, ultrasound scan and oxygen pipelines is set to be dedicated in a few days. 10-thousand vials of the injection remdesivir, a large number of tocilizumab that is being used in the clinical management of Covid-19 patients have been procured and sent to all major government hospitals in the state.L

Dr Vijayabhaskar also assured that the special pay of one month salary to all frontline workers in the state who are fighting against the pandemic will soon be disbursed as a measure of gratitude and encouragement.