May 2007 Editorial - by Gaurang Damnai

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Something to think about - May 2007
Implementing Justice v/s Implementing the Law? - By Gaurang Damani

Without exaggeration, it can be stated that there is this one institution that can solve most of India’s problems? What is that institute? It is the judicial system of India. If the judiciary is made stronger in terms of time taken to dispense justice, then people would not be afraid to go to courts. Today can a common citizen confidently file a criminal case against a policeman or a local thug?

Prosecution succeeds in only about 12% in criminal cases in India. But also, today about 2,00,000 people are in jails for time longer than maximum period they would have served had they been convicted. On the other hand, criminals fight elections from jails, while they wait for a judgement on their court matters! Today the rich and the powerful in our country feel that they can get away with anything and not be penalized immediately. By the time criminal cases reach the court, years have passed and the witnesses have turned hostile.

Today we follow the British judicial system that does not suit our culture or ethos. There are the 21 High Courts in India and the Supreme court. Then we have the lower courts viz. Court of civil judge (Junior and Senior division); Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate; Sessions Court and ofcourse tribunals. Every year 14 lakh cases are disposed off in lower courts. But as of January 2007, there were 2.55 crore cases pending in district and subordinate courts (of which about 30 lakh cases pertain to traffic challans and motor vehicle claims!); 40 lakh cases pending in 21 High Courts and 40,000 in Supreme court!

What are the reasons for that? As reported by Times of India, January 2007:

Country         No of judges per million people population
USA                       110
Brazil                      77
Canada                   75
Australia                 58
Britain                     51
India                      13

We desperately need judges. Today there are about 50 vacancies for judges in the 21 High courts of India and about 3,000 vacancies for judges in the lower courts of India. In Maharashtra state alone 31% of judges posts are vacant in lower courts.

Today courts are working on issues like fixing potholes, removing speed breakers, deciding on reservation issues, etc., which are technically matters pertaining to the bureaucracy. How can the courts function effectively in this scenario?

Some other solutions noted after my brief exposure to the problems seen at the Mumbai High court:

Why do Indian courts have long summer and winter breaks?
A lot of lawyers also delay cases by constant adjournments.
Why can’t we have a single judge bench?
Can we explore the jury system that works so well in the US?
Divide pending cases into 3 categories viz. urgent; need action within 1 year and those which are complicated and may take time to be resolved.
Appoint retired judges with adequate compensation to fast track justice.

What we can we, as common citizens do about this? Judges in a High Court are appointed by the President of India in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the governor of the state. Maybe we are being wishful, but what may help is writing to any of the above with suggestions on the matters of our judiciary at: rajbhavan@maharashtra.gov.in; presidentofindia@rb.nic.in; sclsc@nic.in (Supreme Court Legal Services Committee – for Chief Justice of India).

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