Patna (PTI): Bihar Home Minister Samrat Choudhary on Sunday announced that the state government will establish 100 fast-track courts (FTCs) to ensure the swift disposal of pending cases.

He said that the move also aims to ease the burden on regular courts for them to accord due attention to sensitive cases.

Choudhary said the decision in this regard has been made considering that over 18 lakh cases are pending before different courts in the state.

The constitution of FTCs will "bring in a big relief" to the judicial system and litigants, he said.

"To operationalise 100 FTCs across 38 districts and sub-divisions, the government will undertake large-scale recruitment," the home minister asserted in a statement.

He said that a total of 900 posts, including those of bench clerks, office clerks, stenographers, deposition writers, data entry operators, drivers, process servers and peons, will be filled.

Choudhary also announced that 79 courts will be designated as 'act courts' to fast-track cases related to the Arms Act. Swift resolution of such serious cases, he said, will strengthen law and order in the state.

The minister said that Patna alone will get eight fast-track courts, while four courts each will be set up in Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and Bhagalpur. Three FTCs each are planned for Nalanda (Bihar Sharif), Rohtas (Sasaram), Saran (Chhapra), Begusarai, Vaishali (Hajipur), East Champaran (Motihari), Samastipur and Madhubani.

Similarly, two courts each will be established in West Champaran (Bettiah), Saharsa, Purnea, Munger, Nawada, Jehanabad, Arwal, Aurangabad, Kaimur (Bhabhua), Buxar, Bhojpur (Arrah), Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Siwan, Gopalganj, Supaul, Madhepura, Araria, Kishanganj, Katihar, Banka, Jamui, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai and Khagaria. One FTC each is also proposed for the sub-divisional courts of Naugachia and Bagaha.

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Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The 30th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) beginning here on December 12, will open with the film “Palestine 36,” directed by Annemarie Jacir.

The film is an epic historical drama which portrays the Palestinian uprising against the British colonisation.

The opening film takes its name from the year when Palestine began to revolt against British rule and Zionism, a release from the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, the organisers of the event, said on Sunday.

The IFFK, which enters its 30th edition, will be held at the state capital here from December 12 to 19.

The inaugural film was awarded the best film at the Tokyo International Film Festival and was Palestine's official entry for the best international feature film at the 98th Academy Awards.

Another film by Jacir, ‘Wajib’ for which she won the IFFK's Golden Crow Pheasant in 2017 will also be screened as part of the package of films which won Suvarna Chakoram in the early editions of the IFFK.

The Chalachitra Academy also announced that the Lifetime Achievement Award of the 30th IFFK will be conferred on renowned Malian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako, in recognition of his profound contribution to world cinema.

Born in Kiffa, Mauritania, Sissako’s family moved to Mali, where he spent his childhood. He made his first short film Le Jeu (The Game) in 1989 as his graduation project.

His full-length feature film debut, Life on Earth (La Vie Sur Terre), released in 1999, was featured in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival that year, and the definitive breakout hit was the 2014 film "Timbuktu."

Sissako's films are primarily focused on globalisation, displacement, exile, identity, and the struggles of everyday life in Africa, which helped bring African cinema into the global spotlight.

Sissako’s five films will be screened this year at IFFK. Life on Earth (1999), Waiting for Happiness (2002), Bamako (2006), Timbuktu (2014), and Black Tea (2004) are the movies to be screened at the festival.

The IFFK’s lifetime achievement award, introduced in 2009, is presented to a filmmaker who made significant contributions to the art of cinema during their career.

Earlier recipients of the award include Jean-Luc-Godard, Werner Herzog, Fernando Solanas, Alexander Sokurov, Jiri Menzel, Majid Majidi and Bela Tarr.