“Tarikh pe Tarikh, Tarikh pe Tarikh,” the dialogue by Sunny Deol from the film Damini sounds funny now but the ones who attend court dates frequently consider this dialogue their bitter reality. It’s like dating someone who does not give you any sign of furtherance, anyresponse, any result or any hope but does not fail to call you over and play with your life and emotions. We could call it Dating the courts. Because these dates can make an individual as insecure as he can be while dating.
It is said that an intelligent individual should stay away from the courts. That’s because you are stuck for years once you come into the clutches of a court procedure. You spend many precious productive hours of your life sitting in the courtrooms or standing in court passages waiting for your case number to be called. Most times it won’t be called if it is a High Court even if you spend the whole day there. People end up knowing the staff in the court, the chaiwallahs, the Xeroxwallahs, the registrar, and the court duty police from different police stations; but by the time they get to appear in front of the judge, the judge changes and he ends up not knowing you irrespective of your infinite attendance. This is the usual story of every person involved in a court proceeding. Thankfully the application Ecourts now records the business of the court and gives you an overview of where you stand. Ideally, it should have a sub-application of an astrological background that can tell you when this ordeal will stop and when you will be free of torturous days, crazy lawyer expenses and the mental stress of an unpredictable happening in life.
There are cases pending for 30-35 years and the petitioners and respondents have crossed major parts of their lives, but their cases seem to be defying the timeline principle. Some die waiting for justice. Delayed justice is denied, circumvented, ridiculed, and undermines the justice system as stated by MunishwarNath Bhandari. The Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. For the privileged ones, it is a manageableproblem as they afford it. They can engage good lawyers with hefty fees who help them in the best ways. They hardly attend and are much more relaxed about their cases. However, others find it difficult to pay even the mediocre or the interning lawyers. Commuting to courts, and being absent from jobs for a day also is a difficult task for them. Civil cases of grandfathers are later attended by grandchildren. Criminal cases deprive a few innocents of their rights to live free. Family courts are a sight to watch. Couples full of negativity for each other hang on for judgements over alimony, custody and counselling for years having humongous effects on children who have to either attend courts or meet their non-custodial parents in the courtrooms. Human values are compromised by these delays.
The low ratio of judges is one of the reasons for the backlog of cases. The ratio of judges to the population is very low. We need more judges to handle the load of piled-up cases. If the government can focus on this aspect, the state will save a lot of time and money too. Nowadays advocates are taking the adjournment at the drop of the hat. It should be made a rule to allow an adjournment for sufficient cause. Seeking unnecessary adjournment on non-existent grounds with the motive of obstructing the proceedings of the case are instances of deviant conduct, tending to meddle with the justice system. Many put in a new Vakalatnama and ask for time to read papers, to kill time. However, on the next hearing, the same lawyer appears, but it is not questioned why time was sought by a new lawyer with a new vakalatnam if there wasn’t any change. There should be strict norms for many smart loopholes. The severity of cases should be noted and placed as per the importance and urgency.
There is a high inflow of cases in the judicial system of India where people approach the courts even on petty cases. This can be diagnosed by a committee and such cases should be transferred to one function that handles them at pace, instead of wasting the time of people whose verdicts can change their lives. To add to it, there is inadequate staff in the courts which further leads to slowing down of the procedures. Accumulation of first appeals, Indiscriminate closure of courts, Indiscriminate resort to writ jurisdiction, inadequacy of classification and granting of cases, and inordinate delay in the supply of certified copies of judgements and orders are other causes for super delays in courts.In order to expedite trials, the judicial system in the lower courts needs to be corrected. According to experts, maintaining Courts, their assets, adequate facilities on Court grounds, and ongoing case hearings are essential. In addition to them, expediting civil and criminal hearings is necessary. It takes a long time to hear these cases and decide on them. Decisions in criminal cases frequently have to be made when the offender is virtually through serving their sentence. Similar to criminal proceedings, civil matters are decided by the second or third generation. Morale and enthusiasm among the Judges at all levels have to be uplifted by providing adequate remuneration and favourable conditions of employment. Adequate administrative support may also be provided to the Judges and Magistrates. Mediation and Conciliation should be encouraged and facilitated to reduce the workload and clear the backlog.
Simultaneously, Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism may be resorted to and extended to all jurisdictions and put into optimum use. Lok Adalat has definitely helped a lot but this function needs to be empowered in order to make people realise the seriousness of it and realise that they are the courts and there will be consequences there also. Many have misunderstood that Lok Adalats are not as serious ascourts. Rules should be for all. The privileged should not escape the law, and the poor should not suffer only because of a lack of money and knowledge. Some judges really make an effort to understand the peopleand their cases who are not represented well. It is a matter of luck to find such people sitting in that position who acknowledge the difficulties of common people. All we need is ease for the common man. There is a lot of faith and hope that goes into a judicial case in a common man’s life. The nation will flourish when the common man is taken care of.