1. Citizen’s Appeal: Ensuring Expeditious
and Timely Justice for All
Preamble
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India
into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to
secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity
of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November,
1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS
CONSTITUTION.
2. Judiciary of India
• The Indian Judiciary is partly a continuation of the British legal system established
by the English in the mid-19th century based on a typical hybrid legal system
known as the Common Law System, in which customs, precedents and legislative
are all components of the law.
• There is a strict hierarchy in Indian judiciary system with supreme court as the
apex court followed by the high courts of states and sub-ordinates to them are the
district courts .
• The supreme court of India is headed by the chief justice and 25 other judges
appointed by the president of India.
• There are 24 high courts in India ,with the Calcutta high court the oldest
established on 2nd July 1862.the judges of supreme court are appointed by the C.J.I.
And the governor of the respective states.
• The district court is set up by the state governments on the basis of the population
of the district and various other factors. the district courts are presided by the
district judge or metropolitan session judge if the district is metropolitan.
3. Issues
• According to the World Bank, "although India's courts are notoriously inefficient,
they at least comprise a functioning independent judiciary. A functioning judiciary
is the guarantor of fairness and a powerful weapon against corruption.
• Corruption in the judiciary goes beyond the bribing of judges. Court personnel are
paid off to slow down or speed up a trial, or to make a complaint go away. Judges
are also subject to pressure from above, with legislators or the executive using their
power to influence the judiciary, starting with skewed appointment processes.
• With over 3 crores of cases and sanctioned strength of some 16000 judges. The
system has expanded rapidly in the last three decades, reflecting India’s social,
economic and political development in this period. It is estimated that the number
of Judges/Courts expanded six fold while the number of cases expanded by double
that number – twelve fold.
• the Delhi High Court has a backlog of 466 years according to its chief justice.[8]
This is despite the average processing time of 4 minutes and 55 seconds in the
court.
• Citizens are often unaware of their rights, or resigned, after so many negative
experiences, to their fate before a corrupt court.
4. Case Studies
Uttam Nakate Case
• Uttam Nakate was a helper in Bharat Forge. He was caught asleep on the job at
11:40 A.m., it was the fourth time this had happened, yet various courts (including
Bombay High Court) did not grant the company the right to fire him. At the end, 22
years the Supreme Court of India upheld his dismissal.
• In the above situation even thought the management of the company was right it
took almost 22 years to solve the case. This represents how the labour laws of india
have loopholes in them which helped worker in the above case.
• Aside from highlighting the problem of India's lethargic legal system, Uttam's case
dramatizes
• “How the country's labor laws actually reduce employment, by making employers
afraid to hire workers in the first place. The rules protect existing unionized
workers – referred sometimes to as the "labor aristocracy" -- at the expense of
everyone else. At this point, the labor aristocracy comprises only 10 percent of the
Indian work force”. — Gurcharan Das on the Foreign Affairs magazine.
5. The above labour laws were formulated during the post independence era there the
major employer were the zamindaars and the formal employment was’nt that
relevant in the country. today with 25 million in organised sector albeit comprising
just 6% of the population, the number has gone up since 66 years and the employers
too. with globalisation in effect mnc’s,service sector is a major recruiter in
organised sector after the public sector.
The law which protects the organised labour unions have caused failure of several
textile mills in Ahmedabad as well as in mMumbai , resulting in several skilled
workers too unorganised sector such as the vendor lorry drivers rickshaw drivers
etc.
The Indian Labour Law is not at par with the global standards.
6. Nirbhaya case
• We have taken up this case because we feel there is still lot to be done in
rape,molestation,women harassment laws.
• The infamous incident doesn’t require any case history as it was well and sensibly
covered by the media.
• The case was given to the fast rack court and even though given to the fast track
court it took 9 months for its first conviction by the juvenile board.
• The juvenile board awarded only 22 months of sentence to the under aged and was
one of the most brutal among the gang
• One of the most well known was the torture and murder of toddler James bulger in
britain by two ten year olds in 1993.Despite their young age,Britain tried Jon
Venables and Robert Thompson as adults.
• Why couldn’t the same applicable to the case in Nirbhaya and fresh incidents at
Shakti Mills in Mumbai?
• Is birth certificate an easy route to escape crime??
7. • Why did the bus which didn't meet any rules and regulation set up by the R.T.O.
was allowed to be on the roads of Delhi??
• This may be considered as an apathy on the part of Delhi police but isn’t this lack
of co-ordination between the executive system and the judiciary system??
• The system of checks and balances keep all the 3 levels at par with each other but
the some cases like this and the Coalgate scams in which files itself gets lost
disturbs the thin line of error causing loss of faith in the executive system and hence
in the judiciary system of the country.
• According to our group we think the system of check and balances should be
followed strictly and to reinstate faith of people especially women in the justice
faster justice should be provided with daily hearings without adjournments and to
save the dignity of women several steps should be taken, like protection of identity
not unrevealing the past records to prove that the character of the women is dubious
so she may engage in act with her consent.
8. The above shows slow and in some cases negative growth of case disposal. This is
due to one major reason that is in high courts the number of judges appointed aren’t
up to the mark reflecting the number of decrease in case rate by just meagre
1.73%.Even the district courts performed worst with negative disposal rate .the
blame should go on the state governments who appoint them.
9. The above data can be interpreted in a way that lawyers or eminent jurist
aren’t interested in taking up jobs due to several factors such as:
The number of vacancies at the bottom of the judiciary level is highest in
numbers in the subordinate courts due to selection criteria of judges which do
not allow the judge to practice law when he is acting as a judge.the facilities as
well as their pay scale given to them is lower than what they could earn if they
are lawyers.
Judicial Corruption-Prashant Bhushan social activist and famous lawyer
filed an affidavit that out of the 16 of the 17 previous C.J.I were corrupt.
If a mechanism is developed which forces the courts or judges accountable to
the public and status of the case discussed in public and adjournments which
took place unnecessarily stopped than several important cases can be solved
with its essence still held.
10. Identification of Bottlenecks
· Studies have shown that cases under certain statutes and areas of
law are choking the dockets of magisterial and specialized courts,
and the same have been identified as follows:
1. Matrimonial cases.
2. Cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
3. Regular murder cases/appeals.
4. Civil cases, including suits which may have been
rendered in fructuous.
5. Petty cases such as Traffic Challans.
6. Motor Accident Claims.
· Prioritization has to be worked out for an expeditious resolution of
certain category of cases, such as those filed by senior citizens,
terminally ill persons, cases pertaining to Pretrial and Juvenile
prisoners, women who are victims of violence. These must receive
fast track and out of turn disposal but in a uniform, organized and
systematic manner.
· There must be certainty in the law. Restricting the number of
judgments is necessary to avoid uncertainty in the law. Quality and
precision assist the lower judiciary in the expeditious and final
disposal of cases.
11. Removal of Bottlenecks
· Fast Track procedures must be evolved to deal with the cases
earmarked as causing bottlenecks.
· Special Court Rooms, additional buildings and other infrastructure
must be provided for the above purpose. Increased infrastructural
support must be considered on a war-footing.
· Timetables should be established for every contested
case and monitored through a computerized signalling system (NJA
has developed and piloted such a model).
· Special Courts to process cases on a non-stop day-to-day basis
with no adjournments except in rare circumstances.
· Courts may also take resort to Section 89A of the Civil Procedure
Code, 1908 in order to ensure that litigants first exhaust all modes
of alternative dispute resolution. This will not only decrease the
pendency of cases before courts, but would also substantially
reduce litigation costs and ensure timely and amicable resolution of
disputes.
· Commercial and arbitration cases have to be put on a separate
track. Though a system of alternative dispute resolution /
specialized dispute resolution aims at reducing (and in some cases,
eliminating) time spent in court, the existing position does not reflect
this. Judges, who are well versed with commercial laws and
practices, as well as specialist arbitration judges, should be
requested to put such cases on fast track
