Reform in Judicial System

ABSTRACT

Judicial reform is the complete or partial political reform of a country’s judiciary. Judicial reform is often done as a part of wider reform of the country’s political system or a legal reform.

Areas of the judicial reform often include; codification of law instead of common law, moving from an inquisitorial system to an adversarial system, establishing stronger judicial independence with judicial councils or changes to appointment procedure, establishing mandatory retirement age for judges or enhancing the independence of prosecution.

So in this essay, I basically tried to highlight the problems and different solutions which we need to reform our judicial system.

INTRODUCTION

“Judicial abuse occurs when judges substitute their own political views for the law.”

                                                                                                        –Lamar S. Smith[1]

Our judicial system prides itself in being one of the greatest things to have happened to Indian Democracy. Sadly, it is losing quite a lot of its sheen courtesy taking very long to clear cases which have been affected quite a few people some numbering in tens of thousands.

Indian courts have the largest number of pending cases in the world and among developing nations. Various High Courts, District Courts along with Supreme Court combined have crores of pending cases. Over two crore cases are pending in the country’s lower judiciary, out of which more than 10 percent have remained unsettled for over 10 years, latest law ministry data says. [2]

As per available data on the National Judicial Data Grid website as on December 31, 2015, there are a total of 2,00,60,998 cases pending across the district courts in the different states. Of the 2.6 crore cases pending in lower courts, Uttar Pradesh subordinate judiciary tops the chart with over 56 lakh cases pending by the end of 2015, out of which 41,98,761 are criminal matters.

Out of these, 83 lakh or 41.38 percent cases are pending for less than two years. At the same time, 21 lakh or 10.83 percent cases are pending for over 10 years.2

These data and various data available within other various sources shows the backlog in Indian judiciary and these cases surmounted on the judicial system which is already facing the shortage of Judges across the country.

Why did Reforms need?

India needs several judicial reforms that go without saying. To enlist what reforms India needs we need to 1st enlist the problems plaguing the Indian judicial system. I would try and enlist all these problems in details and would recommend the necessary reforms needed to overcome these problems.

According to me, there are following problems plaguing the judiciary. The problems are following:-

1. JUDICIAL BACKLOG

It means the huge number of cases that are pending in the courts which are just lingering along and not reaching their logical conclusion. Most of these cases are trivial matters such as property disputes, theft, slap incidents etc. There are many reasons for this menace. Some of them are:

• Lack of Judicial infrastructure (lack of district courts, lack of staff etc.)

We need more investment is needed in the judiciary which should be govt top priority. Government is also a big stakeholder in the judicial arena. It must withdraw most of the unneeded and petty cases and also look for out of court settlement.

• Crafty and cunning lawyers and inexperienced judges and judicial staff.

Court proceedings are also delayed due to many cunning lawyers who hijack the court proceedings for their own benefits and take advantage of the leniency and inexperience of the judges.

We need to recruit experienced, well trained & competent judges and judicial staff. This can be done by reforming the recruitment system. Judges need to be stricter and should ensure that the court time is not wasted.

2. JUDICIAL CORRUPTION, APPOINTMENTS

Extremely highly regarded late Chief Justice of India Justice J.S Verma said that he cannot say with full surety that there is no corruption in the judiciary He also wanted Justice KG Balakrishnan to resign on moral grounds. This shows that corruption in the judiciary has reached the topmost level. Corruption is rampant in India’s courts. According to Transparency International, judicial corruption in India is attributable to factors such as “delays in the disposal of cases, shortage of judges and complex procedures, all of which are exacerbated by a preponderance of new laws”. This system has led to sycophancy in the judiciary and a servile attitude. Another worrying thing is ex-judges getting govt jobs after retirement which has questioned their neutrality.

3. JUDICIAL OVERREACH

The judiciary often overreaches its authority and goes into matters which are not under its jurisdiction.

This is not a major problem because a major reason for the outreach is the incompetence of other institutions which forces the judiciary to go into these matters. Once, these institutions start functioning normally then judicial overreach will also stop.

4. DELAY IN JUSTICE –

Speedy trial is guaranteed under article   21   of the   Constitution of India.   Any delay   in expeditious disposal of   criminal trial infringes the right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under article   21   of the Constitution.   The debate on judicial arrears has thrown up a number of ideas on how the judiciary can set its own house in order. [3]

What do we need? What should we do?

As there is the problem in our judicial system, Indian Judiciary must be more responsible and less powerful. Article 50 of Indian constitution says: “The State shall take steps to separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the State.”

The CJI came out with an innovative idea of expeditious disposal of cases by setting up a special “social justice bench“ to deal with the pendency of cases having social issues which are on the rise and needs specialized approach and solve criminal and civil disputes through Lok Adalats.

We need the following:-

1. A Uniform Civil Code is required. Uniform Civil Code means one law for everyone irrespective of caste/creed or religion. The only place it is implemented in India is Goa. Article 44 of Indian Constitution states that state shall work to ensure a uniform civil code.
2. Judiciary must advice whenever sought to every citizen, free of cost.
3. A very important act should be introduced which ensures governments do not promise and give away anything freely/or at throwaway prices to gain in elections.
4. Reforms at the village level- The Gram Nyayalayas Bill have been enacted to set up more trial courts at the intermediate Panchayat level.
5. Right to Information Act on political parties.
6. Organizations like Women commission, Election commission, Pollution board, Environment board should have respective judicial capacity and authority exclusively.
7. Investigation Commission should not be headed by Ex-Judges only. Efficient officers should also get a chance to lead the enquiry.
8. As per my opinion, Lokpal is not needed; Central Vigilance Commission should be more efficient, effective and transparent.
9. Every Gazetted officer should produce annual limpidity report over respective court/administrative office. Causing an unnecessary delay of the trial, biased judgment, and insincerity towards notable points should be severely punishable offence.
10. Use of technology, the digital tools.

President Pranab Mukherjee said-

“in order to provide speedy and quality justice accessible to the ordinary citizens, there is urgent need to reform our judicial system” while delivering a lecture at a seminar organized by the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. [4] He said:-

1. An effective justice delivery system requires that justice should not only be delivered on time but should also be easily accessible to people, particular people from vulnerable sections of society.
2. The process of reform must begin with an assessment of the country’s needs that the legal profession seeks to fulfill, namely the requirements across various levels of the judiciary, gaps in the criminal justice system, specific areas of the law which will require an increased number of practitioners in the near future etc.
3. Legal education and continuing professional development must create a socially sensitive lawyer of conscience, for whom justice delayed is not an opportunity but a blemish on one’s professional persona and a failure of the system of which one is an integral part.
4. The ideal Indian lawyer must not only have excellent legal skills, but also embody social responsibility and strong professional ethics. The efficacy of the rule of law depends to a large extent on the integrity of lawyers who are the link between the citizen and the system of justice.
5. Establishing a comprehensive system of Continuing Legal Education will enhance professionalism, accountability and public respect for lawyers.
6. It is also imperative that continuing legal education centers such as judicial academies be set up for enabling Judges to keep abreast with emerging areas of law such as cyber laws and intellectual property.
7. It would be also useful in this regard for the Bar Council of India to consider setting up a world-class institution for Continuing Legal Education similar to the National Law Schools.

References-

[1] https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/lamarssmi232056.html?src=t_judicial

[2] http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/current-affairs-trends/over-2-crore-cases-pendinglower-courts-government-data-1042404.html

[3] http://iasscore.in/national-issues/judicial-reforms

[4] http://www.firstpost.com/india/india-needs-urgent-judicial-reforms-pranab-mukherjee-1187463.html

Visit our Instagram page @lawyergyan at this link.

For more BLOG/ NEWs, CLICK HERE.

Please Subscribe for more updates.