SC anguished over high cost of litigation in the country

Pointing towards the high cost of litigation, the Supreme Court has said that the common man cannot afford to come to courts for justice as only the rich and affluent have the wherewithal to fight legal battles over their grievances. "No man will dare to come to the Supreme Court. Only those who have Rs 50 crore, or Rs 100 crore or Rs 200 crore can come to the court. Why Supreme Court, it would even be difficult for them to approach the Munsif court," a three-judge bench of Justice B N Aggrawal, G S Singhvi and Aftab Alam observed. The apex court passed the observation while hearing an appeal filed by senior counsel R K Anand challenging the Delhi High Court's decision to debar him and then Special Public Prosecutor I U Khan from practising in courts for four months on charges of influencing the witness in the BMW accident case, as highlighted by the NDTV sting operation. "We are a party to it. You (advocates) are a party to it. We should ponder over it," the bench told senior counsel Harish Salve appearing for the channel. Speaking for the bench, Justice Aggrawal further observed that "Otherwise they (common people) will soon become beggars." The apex court also regretted the absence of proper libel laws in the country to prevent the media from overreaching or defaming individuals. "It is a misfortune of the country," the bench remarked when Salve during the arguments tried to say that libel laws in countries like Britain act as a deterrent for the media from indulging in recklessness and slander. The apex court later decided to view on Wednesday the original CD and tapes relating to the sting operation. Earlier, defending the sting operation Salve said that, at times, the media did indulge in carelessness and recklessness but at the end of the day they did bring certain harsh and hidden facts to the knowledge of the public. "There is a lot of carelessness and irresponsibility. With all the carelessness they are doing some good work," Salved observed. The media's role has to be seen in the context of the growing corruption in the country and the general perception that we are a corrupt society, Salve said during the arguments which lasted over five hours. "Today anybody will believe about corruption charges of anybody. Lot of us have become corrupt," he said, supporting the argument that the country in general has become corrupt. Anand has been claiming that the sting operation tapes had been tampered with and has urged the Supreme Court to refer the original computer chip to the Central Forensic Laboratory. On 21st August last year, Anand and former prosecutor I U Khan were found guilty of influencing key witness Sunil Kulkarni in the BMW hit-and-run case and the High Court barred them from practising in courts for four months. The High court on 31st May last year had taken suo motu cognisance of the NDTV sting operation showing Anand, in collusion with Khan, allegedly offering money to Kulkarni to depose in favour of Sanjeev Nanda, the prime accused in the BMW hit-and-run case. Nanda, the grandson of retired Naval chief S M Nanda, was later sentenced to five years' imprisonment in the case by a city court.

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