The judiciary is the assay mark for the great nation. Indian judiciary system
is considered to be the most powerful judiciary system in the world. Judiciary
is always applauded for working of people rights and entitlements, taking care
of weaker sections of society and providing justice to all.
The pendency of
around 3.3 crore cases shows the real picture of Indian judiciary system since
independence of India. In current scenario judiciary failed to deliver justice
due to high number of cases pending. People approach to the courts with highest
and last approach and treated courts next to god, wherein if they are unable to
get the justice when required causes great trauma and injury can’t be explained
in words.
Author is very keenly trying to elaborate and analyse the reasons for
delay in justice delivery system and their solutions to tackle the pendency of
cases. The author has also analysed the statistics of pendency of cases in
subordinate courts, high courts, tribunals and supreme court. The author has
also discussed the various ways the government of every state should be take
into consideration for fast disposal of pending cases.
Introduction
The word Judiciary the image of justice and equality is imprinted in our mind,
but due to Delay in justice delivery and consequent pendency in courts one thing
that leaves everlasting impression on our mind. The most frequently discussed
topics in judicial reform is litigation pendency in courts. The legal maxim
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied is well established in the present system of
Indian judiciary.
The Right to Fair and Speedy trial is guaranteed as fundamental right under
Article 21 (Right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution of India,
1950, delay in justice delivery system infringe this right. Law commission
stated that the delay in decision is as old as the law itself. The inordinate
delay results in the miscarriage of justice and increases the cost of
litigation. The speedy trail of case and fast disposal never means a hasty
dispensation of justice. In some rare cases the compensation granted on these
delays is totally in fructuous.[1]
Research Methodology
This is a doctrinal research. Only secondary sources have been taken into
consideration and referred in this study. The primary sources like interviews,
questionnaire, talking to specialized in this field were not possible. Secondary
sources like books, various blogs, ample websites etc have been referred in this
article.
Pendency means undecided, undetermined case by court of law. Pending
cases are increasing day by day this shows incapability of the judiciary to
deliver justice on time. By comparing the Indian judicial system with other
judicial system present in the world we find that Indian judicial system is more
competent and more reliable. But pendency of cases in India are more as compare
to other judicial system in the world.
At present there are 24 high courts in India, total 42.2 lakh cases are pending
in these courts. On an average 1.76 lakh cases in each court. More than 5 years
around 20 lakh cases are pending.[2] In Indian constitution there is a
sanctioned strength of judges of high court is 1079 out of which there is a
shortage of around 400 judges.
Tribunals are set up to reduce the overburden of judiciary and fast disposal of
cases. The 272nd law commission report shows that the purpose of setting up of a
tribunals is not accomplished because there is a high pendency of cases in some
of the tribunals like Administrative Tribunal, Income Tax Tribunal, Debt
Recovery Tribunals and many more.
The subordinate courts have a pendency around 3 crore cases out of which around
2 crores are criminal cases pending and around 88 lakhs are civil cases pending.
The top five states which are responsible for the highest pendency of litigation
in subordinate courts in India are Uttar Pradesh (61.58lakh), Maharashtra (33.22
lakh), west Bengal (17.59 lakh), Bihar (16.58 lakh) and Gujrat (16.45 lakh).[3]
Year Wise Pendency | Civil | Criminal | Total |
0 to 1 Years | 3623081(41%) | 8426961(38.37%) | 12050034(39.13%) |
1 to 3 Years | 2276438(25.76%) | 5577191(25.4%) | 7853628(25.5%) |
3 to 5 Years | 1244335(14.08%) | 2809861(12.8%) | 4054196(13.16%) |
5 to 10 Years | 1125708(12.74%) | 3264821(14.87%) | 4390529(14.26%) |
10 to 20 Years | 435490(4.93%) | 1561112(7.11%) | 1996602(6.48%) |
20 to 30 Years | 98973(1.22%) | 277609(1.22%) | 376582(1.22%) |
Above 30 Years | 32058 (0.36%) | 42901(0.2%) | 74959(0.24%) |
Total | 8836083 | 21960456 | 30796530 |
Case Type Wise | |||
Original | 6426154 | 19803651 | 26229805 |
Appeal | 489327 | 385532 | 874859 |
Application | 578436 | 1359249 | 1937685 |
Execution | 1284769 | 67223 | 1351992 |
Stage Wise | |||
Appearance/Service Related | 2066425 | 9915704 | 11982129 |
Compliance/Steps/stay | 1512225 | 1673378 | 3185603 |
Evidence/Argument/Judgement | 3835559 | 7493407 | 11328966 |
Pleadings/Issues/Charge | 1025314 | 1633831 | 2659145 |
Supreme court statistics
The sanctioned judge’s strength for the supreme court is 33 judges. Currently
there are 31 judges including chief justice of India, justice Ranjan Gogoi. The
pending cases at the end of year 2013 was 66,603, at the end of year 2014 was
65,970, at the end of year 2015 was 62,281, at the end of year 2016 was 59,468,
at the end of year 2017 was 55,259, at end of year 2018 was 56,994 and in year
2019 as of now the pending cases are 58,669.[4]
There are various reasons for delay of disposal of cases. Some of the important
reasons as well as some suggestion and recommendations are as follows;
Low judge strength and appointment
When we talk about litigation pendency, the first thought that comes in mind is
that are enough judges in the court to deal with the pending cases? In High
courts of India, there are 1079 approved strength of judges out of which 680 is
the working strength. There are 399 vacancies as per the approved strength.
Allahabad high court has the maximum approved strength of 160 judges out of
which 53 posts are vacant. The second High court which has 94 approved judges
and 26 posts are vacant. High court of Sikkim has minimum number of judges
strength that is 3 judges.
In current scenario India has 19 judges per 10 lakh people[5]. According to
national judicial data grid, working strength of the judges in subordinate
courts is 16,726 and approved strength of judges is 22,474 judges, it means
subordinate courts has a vacant post of 5748 judges. In an interview Mr. Ravi
Shankar Prasad, the law minister of India has said that one of the underlying
reasons behind the high pendency is sometimes the inordinate delay in filling up
the vacancies of the judicial offices.
Law Commission of India in its Report No. 245 says that problem of pendency of
cases is highly increased. court requires a massive resource to deal with this
situation to dispose of the cases. There is need to increase the strength of the
judges in the courts to deliver justice to society.[6]
If the government of India really wants to solve the problem of litigation
pendency, than government has to fill all the vacant post of the judges in the
high court and the subordinate judges. Around 6000 judges to be appointed in the
high courts and the subordinate courts. As in the supreme court there is a post
for 31 judges and there is no vacant post. Judges becomes more experienced when
they devote their time judicial work, it means more the experienced judge more
pending cases he can dispose in a low time hence the retirement age should be
extended to 70 years, so that senior judges work and give justice fast as
compare to the junior judges.
The time taken in proceedings of a case is so lengthy so the peoples sit for
years outside the courtroom waiting for the court to deliver justice. There are
lot of hearings in a case, number of adjournments in a case, victims become
frustrated of fighting for justice. The accused are misusing the process of law
for their benefit. Government should take measures to reduce the time taken in
disposal of case. In some cases supreme court of India passes guidelines to
subordinate courts to end up a trail in a specified time limit, courts dispose
of only those cases fast not others. There are so many cases which are pending
for more than 50 years. Supreme court should pass guidelines to dispose of those
cases fast.
Judges are also human beings, they also have family, friend and relation with
the society. They also need vacations to spent time with their family and
society. The judiciary is providing them vacations to spent time in the society
but some judges need more holidays to enjoy their life.
When judges are on holiday without prior informing to their seniors, than
justice is delayed in cases which are to be heard on that day. For example, if
there is a hearing of under trial prisoner for bail, the judge is absent on that
day without prior informing to their seniors than is justice given to the
undertrial prisoner? There are some judges present in the judiciary, which only
works for the salary, who go on holiday without any justifiable reason. Cases of
that day were adjourned to some other day. This is the reason behind the
workload of judiciary and pendency of cases is increasing day by day.
Mr. Ranjan Gogoi, Chief justice of India has analysed this problem and come up
with a solution called no leave formula for judges during working days
of the court because of the alarming number of cases pending in India i.e. 3.3
crore cases. Those judges who failed to follow no leave formula either withdraw
his name from the judges list or judicial work is withdraw from that errant
member of the court.[7]
No judge is allowed to take leave on working days except in case of emergencies.
If the judge is planning to take leave on working days, they should inform to
their senior officers much prior of taking leave. Before taking leave, they
should coordinate with the chief justice of high court in case of a high court
judge and senior officer in case of a subordinate court so that the case of that
day can be heard by any other judge.
judgment is delivered by a judge, in which one party is going to win and other
to lose. The party which lose the case can go to appeal in higher court if they
are not satisfied with judgment delivered. Appeal provisions are made to satisfy
the party or to check justice but litigants made it a means to earn more money
from the parties. They make an appeal in every case decided by the lower court.
That is why the number of the pendency is increasing the high courts of state.
The total number of a appeal depends upon the court gave the judgment is
subordinate to the superior court. For appeal to the higher court, a notice of
appeal should be served to the subordinate court which has given a judgment,
informing about the case you are going to appeal. The appellate court would not
entertain the case if the notice of appeal is not given on time to the lower
court, usually 30 days is given to inform the lower court who has given a
judgment for the notice of appeal in civil case and 10 days in the criminal
case. After the notice of appeal is served the advocate can present his draft or
petition of case in the higher court.
Suppose the judgment is delivered by the district court than appeal lies in the
session court under chapter 29 of the code of criminal procedure 1973 in case of
criminal case, and under section 96 of code of civil procedure. Than appeal lies
in high court under appellate jurisdiction of high court ( article 227 of the
Indian constitution), than in the supreme court of India under special leave to
appeal (article 136 of the Indian constitution). The supreme court of India is
the highest appellate authority, no appeal lies after that.
In high court there are 49 lakh cases pending out of which 24 lakh cases are
civil appeal and 13 lakh cases are criminal appeal remaining are writ petitions.
Litigants make it a passion, if they win the case than its fine and if not, they
will appeal in higher court only for the monetary benefits from the parties.
These appeals are increasing the burden of the higher courts.
There is a need for the court to determine that only on reasonable grounds
appeals are allowed. Almost in 7 cases out of 10 cases appeals are dismissed
because of the grounds on which they are appealed. Only right of appeal should
be is allowed in one case, no other appeal should be allowed. The registrar of
the court should see the appeal grounds than allow any appeal.
If we go to the root cause of the litigation pendency, one reason which causes
more pendency of cases by slow down the process of trail is infrastructure of
the courts. Mr. Dipak Mishra, former chief justice of India in an interview said
that main cause of the litigation pendency is lack of infrastructure for the
judges, litigants and court staffs. Subordinate courts lack of basic facilities
like proper washroom facilities, canteen facilities, parking, library for
advocates, sitting facilities for advocates and drinking water facilities. If we
look at the trail rooms in district or subordinate courts, they are too small
that a 5-6 people can not stand in it.
How a judiciary perform its work? In
21st century of electronic means most of the work is done in court is on paper.
Courts are ready to run with the upgrading society but the government is not
ready to provide facilities (equipment’s) to the court like a computer,
software, internet facility etc. if we look at the court building it looks like
it was 100 years old there is a need for a government to build the new court
premises for all old court building. The new court building should contain all
the necessary facilities for the judges, advocates and court staff etc.
There is a need for the government to understand that the infrastructure of the
courts is the hurdle which is stopping the judges and court staff from doing
their work efficiently. The government should provide funds for the development
of the judiciary. Land and building availability for construction of Court
Building computerization of court must be done to improve infrastructure of the
court why this year and the government plans to come up with online connectivity
of 2992 quotes if infrastructure is done then litigants will be able to track
their case online check their cases testis order judgement of the court next
hearing date at Sector in some of the districts electronic trial has been set up
and where to set up others also.
Law Commission of India in its Report No. 245 deals with the establishment of
additional courts in elimination of delay and speedy clearance of matters. Hon’ble
supreme court in a matter of Imtiyaz Ahmad v. State of U.P. directed the Law
Commission of India to set up additional subordinate courts for elimination of
delays and speedy disposal of cases and also direct advocates to reduce their
cost.[8]
The code of civil procedure and the code of criminal procedure these are the
main acts, which define the whole process of trial in a case. In a criminal case
trial starts by framing the charges against the accused, then evidence is given
by the prosecution, then evidence of for defence, then there is an examination
of witness by the prosecution, and by the accused lawyer, then final arguments
by the prosecution and defendants and then judgement is delivered. In the whole
process the time taken is up to 5 years minimum by the court which may extend to
10 years. In between the trail there are summons issued to the witnesses which
also takes time. and the advocates takes adjournment in the case for a very long
time just to delay the trial.
There are so many cases which are running for more than 30 years and accused are
contesting election and doing the corruption. If the trial court find them
guilty, then they appeal to the high court, which again gives them five more
years to prove the case then there is one more appeal to Supreme Court and
accused leave his life lavishly in the whole process of law. The person suffers
is the victim he loses his hopes of justice from the judiciary.
In a civil case, the trial of a court start from the notices issued to the
parties by their advocates, then the party give reply of the notice to the other
party, then the matter goes in the court where court frams the issues of the
than the actual trial starts.
Now suppose, if a party has a possession of a property and the property is
disputed. If a trial of a case delays up to 10 years, then the party who has a
possession of the property enjoyed the possession of property for 10 years. Is
this justice to the other party? There are so many cases which the party chooses
not to win the case but to delay the trial, because delay of trail results in
profit to the party.
There is a need for the government to reduce the delay time in the proceedings
of the court. There are certain provisions in the Civil Procedure Code which
reduces the delay in proceedings like order XXII rule 3 which says parties
either to event down a claim or to request the court to record the compromise
between the parties. Many cases parties are free to trail their cases in Lok
Adalat, or through arbitration proceedings. In criminal procedure there is a
term called plea bargaining which also helps in reducing the cases
In this new era there is extreme competition among the schools and schools,
colleges and colleges. No college or school is focusing on the education of the
student, only they are focusing on the fees and the competition among others. As
a result of this students are becoming less educated and when they come in the
profession, they are not capable to work. For the Judiciary the judges are
enough competent to work but what about the advocates and court staff Court
staffs.
They perform work very less that results in the slow trial of the case.
Advocates are not capable do trial efficiently and fast, they need time to
prepare for the case that results in slow trial of the case.
Litigation pendency can be resolved if the advocates work hard, not takes time
to prepare for the case, this results in a speedy trial of the case. If the
court staff does the work properly then also the trial of the case will be fast.
Education system needs to prepare students for the work not for the money.
Profession of advocates turned into service based to money based
If you visit the court you will find that no advocate is fighting for the
justice, everyone is fighting for the money which they will receive from their
clients. There is a full competition in the court who will earn more. There are
some advocates who charge crores of rupees in a single case for their work.
Some advocates charge the huge amount for their work but some advocates take
amount because other advocates are taking, no one is ready to work for the
amount which they received from the clients. if advocates take money and not
work for the money they have taken from the client then it results in
degradation of the value of the profession in the eyes of the clients.
Some advocates charge on the basis of per hearing of a case, so that trial the
case for years so that they can take money from the clients for years and years,
no advocate is thinking about the litigation pendency and Justice. All are
working for the money only. There is a need that advocate should work
professionally not for the money if the advocates fight for the justice then one
day whole of the color of the Judiciary will be changed.
In this competition Era there are two ways to tackle the competition, one is to
work hard and then go above the others and second is those who has worked hard
stop them and go above. Second one is easy that is why some people accept this.
For example if a judge has given a judgement against advocate then advocate will
file a false complaint against a the judge for biasness, corruption or
misconduct. This is how an unnecessary case is increased. Some lawyers complaint
against the lawyers who earn more money than him, this is how the competition is
reduced nowadays. The lake of fire competition increases an unnecessary increase
in number of cases and work of the judiciary.
Advocates need to understand this that competition helps in improving yourself.
Fair competition should be done to reduce the pendency of cases.
There are mainly two acts of parliament which mainly protects the judges so that
they can work freely that is Judicial Officers protection Act 1850 and The
Judges (protection) act 1985. Section77 of the Indian penal code 1860 protects
the judges from criminal proceeding for something said or done during the
judicial duties. There are certain people who wants that judiciary should not
work without any barrier in their work.
So many wrongs complaints against the judges are made like misconduct, improper
court room behaviour, biased with one part, abusing his contempt of court power,
engaging in political activity, criminal behaviour, harassment and many more.
There are so many advocates who files false complaints against the judges
because either they lose case or they want to be popular in the court. If a
complain is filed against a judge than whole of the court rooms work will be
pending on that day because judge is absent on that day. Next date to all the
cases is given because the judge has to give justification against the complaint
against him.
The five judge constitution bench of the SC in K. Veeraswami case v. union of
India (1991) 3 SCC 655 held that according to section 154 of the code of
criminal procedure 1973, no criminal case shall be registered against any
sitting judge. Unless the government has take a permission from the chief
justice of India or chief justice of high court of state as the case may be, its
assent was imperative in taking action against any judge because he was
participatory functionary in appointment of judges.
It was held that government should consider opinion of the chief justice and if
chief justice has a opinion that this case should not be registered than it must
not be registered. Now if any case is to be registered against the chief justice
of India than next senior most judge of the supreme court who is going to be the
next CJI should be consulted.[9]
Recently there was a sexual harassment allegation against the Ranjan Gogoi,
chief justice of India. After investigation of the matter it was found that the
complaint was false, this complain points out the finger on the judiciary,
affecting the trust on the judiciary of people. Due to this complain whole of
the work of the supreme court of India is affected.
The government can initiate proceedings against any judge under section 3(2) of
The Judges (protection) Act 1985. It is to be kept in mind that a person who is
on that post who gave judgments in others case, can not do any wrong before
doing any wrong he will think 1000 times because he knows the consequences of
that act. Without any proper justification no complaints should be registered
against any judge because it will affect others life also.
When the petitioner stand in front of court, the question asked by the judge
would be what is the locus stadia of petitioner in that case? but there is
exception to this that is PIL, in which there is no locus need because it is
done for the benefit of the public. But some people uses it as profession and
files irrelevant cases in the courts. This results in the increase of pending
cases in the courts. Justice Bhagwati in regard to misuse of PIL in a landmark
case Janata Dal v. H.S. Chowdhari held that PIL shall not be filed for personal
motives as well as political motive.[10]
Public Interest Litigation is a term used for the interest of the public at
large. Petition of PIL can be filed in Supreme Court and high court under
article 32 and 226 respectively in any other case the petitioner needs to prove
his or her locus stadia in the case but in the case of PIL there is no locus
standi needed, anyone can file a PIL in if there is a public interest in that
case. When PIL is filed for the betterment of the society or for the benefit of
a group of people then it is good but when PIL is filed for the political or
economic purposes then it is misuse of PIL. In alarming number of cases pending
in India, PIL plays an important role.
The scope of PIL so vast that a letter can also considered as a PIL many people
misuse as PIL they file PIL in High Court for the monetary benefit. Increases in
PIL results in increase of litigation in the High Court and Supreme Court. In
many cases litigants file PIL only for the popularity in society. There is a
need to control unnecessary filing of PIL by making guidelines for the filing of
PIL.
Misuse of PIL can only be stopped by the courts some questions should be a court
ask to the petitioner are that whether he is a Bona fide or not? he has some
interest in PIL or not? Court should not see every petitioner with black eyes
but some questions can be put before the petitioner at the time of registration
of petition. PIL which are genuine should be entertained by the court but PIL
which are only for political or monetary purpose should be imposed fine on that
petitioner
The backbone of pending case is the number of cases increasing day by day and
the disposal rate of subordinate Court is very low, because of the less number
of the judges, absenteeism of judges, process of trial of a case, strikes by
advocates, frequent transfer of judges etc. in subordinate courts.
The only solution of this is that the court has to stop unnecessary filing of
cases in Courts and promote the alternative remedies of disposing the case like
ADR, Lok Adalats, plea bargaining etc. If the rate of disposal of a cases is
high as compare to the filing of a cases, than automatically the pendency
problem will be solved.
The profession of law must contain knowledge, skill, and attitude. The law can
be best learn by two means one is when we are confronted with problems and find
out the solution ourselves and experience it and other is learn by others
experience, other method is more reliable and time saving. That Can be done
through workshops and training seminars, but India is a country where there is a
process or method for everything but no one follows that.
There are training seminars arranged for judges to deal with the any situation
they faced during the Judiciary period and provide them knowledge about any
amendment but some judges attend that training seminars and some not, so when
judges face problem like litigation pendency is one of them some Judges overcome
from that and some not. When any new law is passed by Parliament or any
amendment is made not every judge and lawyer is aware of it. If the advocates
are not able to understand the law how they will find fight a case in the court
and if judges are not aware of the low how they will deliver a judgement so is
one of the reasons for litigation pendency.
The central government as well as state government should organise a seminar and
workshops for judges, advocate and law professionals to make aware them about
the new legislation passed and any amendment in any law. Layman should be aware
of the laws than they will not break laws.
There are around 1000 acts passed by the parliament since 18th century not every
person knows this.[11] There is a phrase called Ignorance of law is not
excusable. If any person breaks the law then he cannot run away by saying that
he was not aware of any such law prohibiting the act what he has done. Point is
if that person knows that law prohibits this act he won't do that. This is the
reason why number of the cases are increasing day by day. Parliament and state
legislature had made a law relating to land, corruption, population, tax,
industry, goods and service, marriage, women and child, Road and Transport,
agriculture, Drugs and cosmetics and in every field that man can imagine, there
is a law either passed by Parliament or is going to pass it. Not every layman
knows about every law, if they know they would not do act prohibited by law and
in current situation peoples are doing acts prohibited by law because of
unawareness of laws and fighting cases in court of law.
There is a need from the side of government that, when there is any amendment
passed by parliament, it should be taken into consideration to the general
public with the help of print media and electronic media. The gazette of
government of India should be Published in a language layman can understand it.
Otherwise what happens, only the law professionals in understands it and follow
it. No layman will understand the actually intention of the legislature, they
breaks law and fight case in court.
Lawyers are also humans they also have some demands that should be fulfilled by
the government. The demands should be reasonable like infrastructure of the
court premises, parking facility, sitting arrangement for lawyers and separate
bar for women advocates, washroom facilities etc. the advocates go on strikes it
affects the work of the whole Judiciary like bail of an accused, appeal in case,
trial of case, etc. this results in delay of justice to society.
Lawyers right to strike –: professional misconduct
Article 19(1)(c) of the Indian constitution gives freedom to form associations
or unions, in short this article provides a right of strike to every person.
In case of Harish Uppal versus Union of India and another's, 2002 the supreme
court held that the Advocate has no right of strike or give a call for boycott
of work, they can protest peacefully carrying outside court premises.
Hussain v. Union of India, 2017 Supreme Court has clearly stated that the
lawyers strike is illegal and suspension of court work is also illegal. It is
the time for legal fraternity to deliver a justice to the society not for
strike.
Judiciary is the most important organ of the democracy in which advocates are
the officer, who have certain responsibilities to do, serving justice to the
society is one of them. Despite the various judgements of High Court and Supreme
Courts, lawyers continued to do strikes. in chapter II part IV of the Bar
council Rules, advocates are bound to maintain professional conduct. If lawyer
do protest peacefully than the work of the judiciary will not be affected.
Less use and awareness of Alternative Dispute resolution, Fast track courts, Lok
Adalat’s, The Gram Nyayalayas act 2008, plea bargaining
The use of methods such as mediation or arbitration to resolve a dispute without
resort to litigation is called Alternative Dispute resolution. There are three
main ingredients of ADR i.e. Arbitration which means the process of setting an
argument or disagreement in which people or groups on both sides present their
opinions and ideas to third person or group, conciliation which means to make
compatible and Mediation which means intervention between conflicting parties to
promote reconciliation, settlement or compromise.
As we all know there are 3.3 crore cases are pending in India, out of which 50%
are of civil nature. All the petitions which are compoundable can be easily be
resolved through ADR. Through it litigation pendency can be resolved. Section 89
of the code of civil procedure 1908 talks about the settlement of disputes
outside the court by arbitration, conciliation, mediation and lok Adalat. In the
year 1996 an act is passed by parliament called arbitration and conciliation
act, to promote ADR in India.[12]
In year 2005 the Eleventh Finance Commission recommended a scheme for creation
of fast track court. It recommended 1734 fast track court for the disposal of
pending cases in India.[13] The supreme court view all this by a case called
Brij Mohan Lal vs. Union of India (2005) 3 SCR 103. The ministry of finance
provides fund to state government for the creation and development of Fast Track
courts in state with the consultation of the concerned High court of that state.
Fast Track Courts were made for the period of 5 years only, after that it is
upon the state either they want to continue it or not. If the state want to
continue it than they have to make it permanent, some state like Andhra Pradesh,
Assam, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala continued it by the guidelines
prescribed by a case Brij Mohan Lal vs. Union of India, (2012) 6 SCC 502.
In the year 2011 the fast track courts has disposed around 32lakh cases
according to the high courts of state There is a need for every state of India
to set up Fast Track Courts in districts so that the problem of litigation
pendency can be solved.[14]
Lok Adalat also known as people’s court. It is present in every district. It
consists of chairman who is sitting or retired judicial officer, social
activists or member of legal profession. To achieve the objective enshrined in
Article 39A of the Constitution of India, the Legal Services Authorities Act,
1987 was enacted. Its aim is to provide free legal aid to weker sections of the
society to ensure that justice is delivered to every person in the society
irrespective of their economic condition.
Any dispute pending in the subordinate court can be brought into the Lok Adalat. If
any one party wants that the case should be referred to the Lok Adalat’s the
other party should be given a prior notice.
The process of Lok Adalat is not complex as the regular court has during the
trail. Because of it this makes trail fast and settle the dispute. The advantage
of the lok Adalat is that the parties directly interact with the judge which
helps the judge in determining case. Lok Adalat’s has jurisdiction to all the
compoundable offences not to the non-compoundable offences.
Gram Nyayalayas (court) is like a Mobile Courts. In year 2009 an act came into
force called The Gram Nyayakayas act 2008. Its purpose is to provide access to
justice to people at their door step and to ensure justice to every person
without social, economic barriers. Out of 29 states of India only 11 states have
notified 320 Gram Nyayalayas out of which 204 have become operational.[15].
These courts works in village and resolve the dispute by way of conciliation
process. These courts consists of judicial magistrate first class appointed by
state government in consultation with the concerned high court. Criminal appeals
from gram nyayalaya were directed to session court of concerned district and
Civil appeal directed to district courts. The gram nyayalayas are not bound with
the rules of The Indian Evidence Act 1872, these works on the guidelines made by
the high court and on the basis of principle of natural Justice.
According to section 3(1) of the act, 5000 gram nyayalayas were expected to be
setup by the end of year 2018. State like Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh
and Rajasthan are working on gram nyayalayas to reduce the pendency of cases,
other states should promote gram nyayalayas.
In year 2005, a new chapter XXI A was inserted in Criminal Procedure Code, 1973
on plea Bargaining. Plea Bargaining means a pre-negotiation between the accused
and the prosecution where the accused pleads guilty in exchange for certain
concession by the prosecution. The main objective of the plea bargaining is to
reduce the time in criminal trail and give the accused a lesser punishment. It
helps in fast disposal of cases.
Conclusion
We are concluding this discussion here; Indian judiciary system is strong as
compare to another judiciary system present in the world. But it is facing some
challenges that are making it less effective. Society is losing hopes and faith
towards judiciary because of the time taken by it in delivering justice.
Judiciary must overcome from these challenges, peoples should not hesitate
before going to court.
In this world of technology, peoples are becoming aware of their rights, they
know what remedies they have if their rights are infringed. They are approaching
to court of law, this right is given by Article 39 (A) equal justice and
free legal aid given to all.
What government should do is to make judiciary more compatible, so that can
dispose of cases as soon as possible.
The delay is caused mainly due to factors which are insufficiency of judicial
officers, inadequate ministerial staff, personal factors, defects in the
procedure, lack of infrastructure, abuse of process of law etc.
[16] solutions like Alternative Dispute resolution, Lok Adalat’s, fast track
courts, gram Nyayalay should be promoted by government to deliver justice in an
effective way and reduce the workload of judiciary.
End-Notes:
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