New Delhi, Apr 19: Holding that corruption is a challenge to both government and judiciary, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today favoured setting up special courts to combat the menace, an idea endorsed by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.

"Corruption is another challenge we face both in government and the judiciary. The CJI has written to me suggesting that we create special courts to deal with corruption cases. I agree that there is urgent need to do so. This will instill greater confidence in our justice delivery system, at home and abroad," Singh said at a conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts.

The Chief Justice stressed the need for quick disposal of cases registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and favoured the creation of special vigilance courts. Despite repeated efforts, allocation of funds for starting new courts "is not very encouraging", Justice Balakrishnan said, asking States to start more special vigilance courts to dispose of corruption cases. "After the establishment of Fast Track Courts, we could dispose of large number of such cases. Even then the number of courts are not sufficient to dispose of the cases," he said.