A strong and independent judiciary is extremely important for the expansion of India. Because of speedy and good system is the very essence of society. But the Indian judiciary, by its nature, has become very slow and inefficient. Our laws and their interpretation have led to large misery for the litigants and made people look for other choices.
Why there’s an urgent got to reform India’s judiciary
Better Investigation
People at a huge level with their social power accounts for the majority of under trials. Approx. 70% of them are illiterate, 53% are Muslims, Dalits, and tribal people. In several cases that made it to the news, young Muslim men were picked abreast of terror charges, put in jail and acquitted after a decade-long stint in prison had stolen the simplest years of their lives from them, broken their health and broken their bonds with much of society. Not all prisoners are of this type. Many times the victims are scientists.
Faster Trial
A case was made against a promising scientist working for the govt and his life and career destroyed. Now, within the evening of his life, he has the satisfaction of getting the case against him being dismissed. But that’s only at the extent of the court. The CBI is probably going to travel on appeal. If the Supreme Court accepts the appeal, the case could drag on for years, decades.
Judiciary & accountability
The judiciary has got to understand the “economic importance of their judgment”. Holding the judiciary liable for the delays within the process of resolution of cases under IBC, he said, currently, the judiciary only looks at the document and sees what must be done from the legal angle without watching things during a context.
Citing the instance of Essar Steel, wherein the resolution process is to be complete thanks to pending litigation, he said, “Nearly ₹50,000 crores will inherit the country and therefore the banking industry will get re-rated but it’s been stuck then has been many other cases……you got to have a judiciary that understands the economic importance of judgment.”
The judiciary today only sees the law and not what impact it’s likely to possess on the economy, which they feel is that the problem of the government.
“There must be responsibility and accountability for the judiciary too. they’re key stakeholders in our economy. So, they have to know the economic impact of their judgment,” he said.
Problems in Judiciary
Judicial backlog
A huge backlog of cases is proving to be the primary problem for the judiciary. according to figures compiled by the ministry of law, the Supreme Court had 62,791 pending cases at the highest of 2014. The figures went right down to 59,272 in December 2015. But at the highest of 2016, the pendency within the Supreme Court went up to 62,537.
The ministry also highlighted that according to the latest data provided by the SC, as on July 17, 2017, the pending cases are 58,438. These include 48,772 civil and 9,666 criminal cases. Similar is that the case with the 24 high courts of the country where pending cases were 41.52 lakh at the highest of 2014. In December 2015, the pendency went right down to 38.70 lakh. But at the highest of 2016, the cases went up to 40.15 lakh but were but the pendency in 2014. But within the subordinate courts which are the primary system nervous of the country’s judiciary — the pendency of cases has gone up within the last four years.
Shortage of judges
Speedy disposal of cases can meet with the allotment of the latest judges. Since the high court’s features, a shortage of 413 judges as on September 1 (2015) and therefore the approved strength is 1,079, around 666 judges are working through the country. But the subordinate courts have a huge shortage; though they gave an approved strength of nearly 20,000 judicial officers is brief of 4,937 judicial officers.
The shortage of judges is attributed because of the large hindrance for speedy disposal of cases. Indian Judiciary Annual Report 2015-16 and ‘Subordinate Courts of India: A Report on Access to Justice 2016’– which also highlighted that nearly 15,000 more judges would be required in the next three years to beat a million cases.
Judicial corruption
Corruption in the Indian judiciary is common. according to the various survey, corruption is extremely high level throughout the country, over 45 percent of Indians believe the judiciary is corrupt. Not only is corruption rampant within the lower courts, but some have also alleged that this corruption reaches the absolute best levels which are greatly damaging to the judiciary. 8 years ago, a former Law Minister declared that eight of sixteen former Chief Justices of India (CJI) were corrupt.
4 years ago, a former Supreme Court judge alleged that three former CJIs made “improper compromises” to let a corrupt supreme court judge continue in office. Sadly, the Indian judiciary has shown a passion to reply to every message or comment from the chief or the legislature or even political establishment as an attack on the judiciary.
Judicial overreach
For the past years, the functioning of the Judiciary has recently come under considerable attack, particularly from the Legislative assemblies. The lawmakers or legislature feel that courts are crossing their limits or exceeding their authority in interpreting the law. They have termed such actions as a further constitutional law-making body’s overreach. Examples are, the SC has ruled that operators with cancelled 2G licenses should stop services. When there was widespread allegation about the scam, the Supreme Court immediately banned ore mining in Karnataka and Goa. Not just the ban the mines, Gujarat. Supreme Court went one step ahead by ordering that every one new vehicle registered within the state should run on gas. This act is known as an overreach into the executive body’s decision. Some are of the opinion that the courts have moved far beyond the function assigned to them under the Constitution division of responsibilities among the legislature, the chief and thus the judiciary.
What are the solutions?
It is an urgent need to made certain judicial reforms in our country. it is not just important for welfare, but also economic welfare as a sound and efficient dispute resolution and justice delivery system will attract more foreign investors also.
It is the time that the judiciary must take some strong steps to form sure that the system as a whole is functioning expeditiously, as an example vacations must be reduced to each week in Subordinate Courts also as in Higher Courts. there is a requirement to increase the time of everyday working of the courts, a minimum of by half an hour. The adjournments must be granted strictly in accordance with the provisions of ‘Order 17 of the Civil Procedure Code’ so on avoid unnecessary delay.
Regarding the judicial reforms, it is necessary to follow the recommendations of 230th and 245th Law Commission Report also. Also, it is vital for courts to understand that certain kinds of cases be tried as soon as possible like in rape cases, the victim must not await 10-20 years for justice, in terrorism cases where the possibilities of prosecuting innocents are high because of pressure on police to act promptly, the courts must try such cases as soon as possible so as that the State itself doesn’t give birth to victims as mentioned above while providing justice to many other victims.
When today’s lack of professional ethics could also be an enormous problem that even the Bar itself is facing, in legal education, one just not must be taught what law is but also, how it’s to be practiced honestly and ethically, is an urgent judicial reform needed today.
Conclusion
It is the time that the judiciary must take some strong steps to form sure that the system as a whole is functioning expeditiously, as an example vacations must be reduced to each week in Subordinate Courts also as in Higher Courts. There is a requirement to increase the time of everyday working of the courts, a minimum of by half an hour. The adjournments must be granted strictly in accordance with the provisions of ‘Order 17 of the Civil Procedure Code’ so on avoid unnecessary delay.
“The views of the authors are personal“
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the new steps taken by govt for judicial reforms in India?
Govt takes various steps for judicial reform in India –
a) Shift certain sections of the workload
b) Govt organized performance index for judges
c) Videoconference facility started by the govt
What was the status of the States of India in India Justice Report(IJR)?
In India Justice Report Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the leading Indian states when it comes to justice delivery. And Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are the worst-performing states.
References:-
- Economictimes.indiatimes.com
- www.hindubusinessline.com
- www.livemint.com
- Iasscore.in
- www.civilserviceindia.com
