Patna: The state government is going to hold a two-day national conference on state tribunals in India starting February 24.

Till a few months ago senior government officials did not know about the number of tribunals in various departments. The conference, to be attended by various high court judges and Union and state ministers, will discuss ways to ensure speedy disposal of cases by tribunals.

"Patna High Court Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi will inaugurate the conference," said Tripurari Sharan, chairman-cum-member, board of revenue.

The session will have topics on various subjects, like "India's tryst with tribunalisation and key challenges in terms of national justice, procedural fairness and equity" to be chaired by Justice A. Amanullah. Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan will chair a session on "Capacity building of tribunals-legislative reforms."

Sharan said: "Our effort is to streamline the functioning of tribunals. There are 20 tribunals and heads of various tribunals will be directed by judges and officials to expedite their functioning."

K.K. Pathak, additional member, board of revenue, Bihar, said: "The functioning of tribunals can be gauged from the fact that tribunals looking after tribunals had cases dating back to 1978." Pathak said: "156 cases which were pending for years, including one dating back to 1978, were sorted out and judgement of more than 1200 pages given."