Anonymously Authored
Justice Delayed is India’s 30 Million Case Judicial Backlog
Four years ago India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, informed the Lok Sabha (the lower house) that India had the largest backlog of cases in the world, and figures from this year estimate that as many as 30 million cases are pending. The Hindustan Times reported last week that over four million of these are High Court cases, with a further 65,000 cases pending in India’s Supreme Court. This article introduces the concept of Justice Delay is Justice denied. It highlights important reason for delay in Justice and also deals with the reason of judicial backlog. The research work is based on the data collected by the secondary sources such as Books, Articles, Journals and Newspapers the collected has been analyzed through suitable techniques at different places.
Justice delayed is justice denied is a legal maxim
meaning that if legal redress is available for a party that has suffered some injury, but is not forthcoming in a timely fashion, it is effectively the same as having no redress at all. This principle is the basis for the right to a speedy trial and similar rights which are meant to expedite the legal system, because it is unfair for the injured party to have to sustain the injury with little hope for resolution. The phrase has become a rallying cry for legal reformers who view courts or governments as acting too slowly in resolving legal issues either because the existing system is too complex or overburdened, or because the issue or party in question lacks political favour.
The implications are serious. Due to the backlog, most of India’s prison populations are detainees awaiting trial. Courts in Mumbai, India’s financial hub are clogged with decade-old land disputes, hindering the city’s industrial development. And the pursuit of justice, ordinarily a costly endeavor, has only been made more expensive by chronic delays. As a result, India’s legal system has increasingly become the preserve of the country’s wealthy and well connected — a development that exacerbates the discrimination already faced by India’s minority and low- caste groups.
In the last few years in particular, successive Ministers for Law and Justice have taken on the job promising urgent reforms. Ashwani Kumar said, when taking office in 2012, that addressing the backlog was necessary to maintain India’s “constitutional democracy,” to adhere to “the rule of law” and to “guarantee order and stability in society.” But despite the scale of the problem, little has been achieved. Kapil Sibal, who took on the Law and Justice portfolio in May of this year, similarly pledged “radical structural reforms.”
In 2008 India’s government set itself the target of having 50 serving judges per million people by 2013. Last year, when it became clear that India was far short of this goal, a less ambitious 5-year plan was announced: a doubling of the number of judges in “subordinate” courts (excluding High Courts and the Supreme Court). India’s current ratio stands at less than 15 judges per million, and even if the new target were achieved, India would still be nowhere near the United States, for example, where there are over 100 judges per million.
The hopelessly inadequate number of judges and also courts in the country is undoubtedly one of the major reasons for such delay
Successive Governments have not only failed to increase the numerical strength of judges and courts but have also been slack in filling up of vacancies. At present the country’s 21 High Courts have a combined strength of 725 judges; but there are 128 vacancies left to fill up. The High courts are handling an overwhelming 34, 00,000 cases and the shortage of judges is only delaying the legal process.
If the inadequate number of judgesis one reason behind delay in judicial process another reason is the incompetence and inefficiency of judges
There are some law colleges in India where students do not have to attend classes, teachers need not deliver lectures and syllabus need not be followed. These colleges have become factory of distribution of law degree. A degree is the sole requirement to become a member of the Bar and a degree coupled with a few years standing at the Bar is the only requirement for joining the Bench (in some cases that is also not required). As a result the quality of judges is far from satisfactory to give us the desired level of competence, efficiency and effectiveness. Good judgment prevents multiplicity of proceedings. Good advice by lawyers followed by good assistance prevents unnecessary litigation and wastage of time.
Despite spending on average less than five minutes per case, in 2009 the court had 600 cases that had been lodged over 20 years ago
The habit of taking adjournment by the lawyers is another reason behind delay
Some lawyers take adjournment unnecessarily to harass opposite parties and to extract money from clients. Some of them cause delay by continuing meaningless argument day after day. In Government cases, adjournment are freely sought to file affidavit because the offices of the Advocate General, the Attorney General and Solicitors General to the Central and State Governments are inadequately staffed and equipped. However, the habit of taking adjournment by lawyers day after day, poses a serious threat to the entire judiciary, which only can be equated with the disease of cancer.
Endless amendment of laws is another reason behind delay
Most of Indian laws were amended time and again. As a result, it takes time to understand and explain the new provisions of law. It kills valuable time of court. These endless amendments make the legal system slow and confusing. Our propensity for enacting laws is really a problem. The Income Tax Act, for example, has been amended over 4000 times since it came into force in 1961. According to Late Mr. Nani A. Palkhivala, the tragedy of India is the tragedy of wastage of national time, energy and manpower for grappling with torrential countless amendments.
Absence of work culture in the courts is another reason behind the delayed justice
Every work of courts is carried out very slowly. Attraction to the holidays makes the work of judiciary dilatory and procrastinating. Number of — holidays, especially in higher judiciary, are so vast that one can easily count the number of working days. This adds to the number of mountainous pending cases in the court.
Some Cases
There are several cases where delivered by courts after a long time. judgments were delayed:
* In Safdar Hasmi murder case, for example, who was Killed by political opponents, the criminals were punished after a long 15 years.
. In Tanduri murder case, the accused a Delhi Congress Leader Susil Sarma was convicted with death sentence after long 8 years 6 months. He murdered Nayna Sahani and destroyed evidence by burning her body within a Delhi based hotel.
* In Model Jesicalal Murder case and Madhumita Sarma Murder case, accused persons were punished after a long legal battle. The Supreme Court of India is not even immune to delays. It’s much acclaimed judgment in the D.K. Basu case in 1996, known for its directives aimed to prevent custodial torture, took ten years to be reached. If a judgment takes this long time in the Supreme Court what can be expected from courts of lesser authority?
¢ The Bhopal Gas tragedy verdict has once again proved the old saying that justice delayed is indeed justice denied but in this case it is rather a mockery of the country’s entire judicial system. With more than 15,000 people killed and 25 years after the horrific incident only
* The Uphaar Fire Tragedy The Uphaar Cinema fire, one of the worst fire tragedies in recent Indian history, occurred on Friday, June 13, 1997 at Uphaar Cinema, Green Park, Delhi, during the premiere screening of Border, a patriotic Hindi movie. 59 people died and 103 were seriously injured in the subsequent stampede; most of the victims were trapped on the balcony and were asphyxiated as they tried to reach
Judicial Procrastination dimly marked exits to escape the smoke and fire, and found the doors locked.