indispenseble Ibundablonk r ecommk acthrity, particularlyat a time when far-reachingscientific and technological advance8 in the industrialized world, and the rapld pace of change that they are ushering In, are serious challenges to developing countries. 3.39 Efficiency of pdlce investigation is fundamental to criminal justice. A basic factor today Is that there ia a loss of publlc wnfldenod in polioe investigationsand the criminal justice delivery aystarn. Publlc confidence Is the aheet-anchorof any police system. Information and intelligence can come only through publlc cooperation. The police, by its archaic methods, insensitivity and unprovoked inckHity towards members of aociety, has alienated the public. Restoration of pbllc confidence can be effective only if there are credible, transparent and effective in-house mechanisms for dealing with police rnisbehaviour. The Commission has dealt with this asped elsewhers in the report. As far as the administration of criminal justice In the Courts is concerned, there is a wide variety of problems bedevilling the system. There is a great degree of disparity, and varying degrees of complexhy, In the problems facing individual States and regions. Any strategy effective in, and appropriate to, any particular State or area may not necessarily be appropriate and-effective in other areas of the country. 3.40 3.4 1 The Commlsslon, therefore, recommends that a time-bound prograhme be embarked upon for the speedy cfeamnce of criminal cases in the Courts, through the High Courts of the respective States which alone have exclusive corrtrol over the .subordinate judiciary. The programme of action, the Cbmmission recommends,should Include the following factors: Strategies for control of arrears should be designed on a district to district basis, having regard to the particular requirements and pattern of criminal litigation in the district. The programme should be In charge of High Courts which will nominate a sitting Judge or a Committee of Judges to be incharge of the programme in the district. The Judge or the Committee, as the case may be,shall be advised and assisted by a wmputer-expert hr Court management matters. The programme must be funded by the State, by an adequate one-time monetary grant, sufficient to see thmugh the programme. A generous measure of financial autonomy is absolutely necessary for the Courts for a little play at the judicial joints. The National Judicial Academy be requested to develop these packages of programmes. The target must be that within a time-frame, say a period of three years, no Court in that district should have any criminal case pending for over eight months. For purposes of tackling the arrears In Courts, long pending cases should be bifurcated