The legal luminaries have been giving wake up calls to the legal fraternity from time to time to deal with the stupendous task of the mounting arrears which has resulted in huge pendency. It is high time that we tackle the docket crises which has a magnitude of more than three crore cases pending adjudication in our country.
Many an eminent persons have voised various solutions for tackling the elephantine problem of piled up court cases. They are all unanimous that this problem must be given the highest national priority for upholding the rule of law. A few have suggested that the alternate dispute redressal measures. This alternate dispute redressal mechanism warrants a national initiative. It is high time we act on the jurists advice, least we have to regret in the words of Andre Gide, the French thinker, who once remarked, “Everything has been said already, but as no one listens, we must always begin again.”
The pendency problem is a direct consequence of justice in slow motion. Unfortunately, it is felt that the slow justice delivery system punishes all those who come in contact with it – the winner as well as the loser. The Limca Book of Records documents the case of an IAS officer Hanumantha Reddy, whose battle for justice lasted for 44 years, nine months and eight days. In sharp contract to this is the example of a Chennai Fast Track Court where Judge K.Ashokan delivered a verdict in Just 44 days in a case of homicide in drunken brawl.
This case only proves the point that constraints of systems are no limiting factors for certain individuals in dispensing instant justice. However, updating the justice delivery system is long overdue. Mere cosmetic changes will no longer serve the purpose.
India is definitely making efforts to tune in to the world over developments with the launch of the Rs. 854 crore plan by the Prime Minister to transform the Indian courts into paper-less courts. By such measures India will emulate the US and Singapore examples by launching the new internet technology court rooms of the 21st century. In England, we have witnessed a judge conducting a trial via the internet from the hospital bed. This was none else but judge Valerie Pearlman. India must also try to follow the example of this trend setting judge. This can be done by establishing e-courts, pressing the internet into service, and achieving greatest speed and accuracy in the justice delivery system. It is high time that we also digitize the voluminous court records.
dear friends share your opinions and suggest measures.
regards,
ritu bhadana
