2. This table clearly justifies that the current working strength at all the
three levels is short by 15 to 30 percent that leaves only around 10
judges per million population which should be at least increased to
figure of 40.
Indian
judiciary
No of
courts
No of
current
judges(ap
pro)
Cases
solved per
year
vacancies Pending
cases
supreme 1 26 50,000 7
PRESENT SCENARIO
supreme 1 26 50,000 7
36 million
high 21 725 1.5 million 233
local 14477 16225 13 million 2998
Some examples of delayed justice…
• A case was pending in Kolkata court for over 178 years.
• A divorce case in which justice was delivered when the wife was 85
years old and her husband was 87.
• A case still pending in Agra civil court that was against Privy Council
judgment delivered in 1923.
3. Enormous arrears of cases accumulates year after year
Inadequate number of judges and courts
Poor management of the proceedings showing very little
concern for the consequences to the litigant public and to
society at large.
Absence of work culture in the courts due to large number of
REASONS FOR DELAY, ARREARS OR
PENDENCY AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE
Absence of work culture in the courts due to large number of
holidays.
There are many occasions where the advocates resort to
suspension of work without any logical reasons.
Only 0.4% of GDP is allotted to judicial matters.
4. Delay in delivering justice wastes 2% of the
GDP as it creates a hostile environment for
investment and enhances corruption.
A common man is being looted by the lawyers
and the judicial official in the process of getting
justice expeditiously or for delaying the
proceedings. All such things have effected the
image of the judiciary as a whole, even
though majority of judges among them are
persons of high integrity and full of wisdom.
Now-a-days the High Courts and the Supreme
CONSEQUENCES OF DELAY IN JUSTICE
Now-a-days the High Courts and the Supreme
Courts have extended its attention to virtually
all kinds of matters relating to common people.
May it be pollution in the metros, or application
of CAS or fitness of transport vehicles for the
children everywhere the intervention of court
seems to have become necessary. Leading
juristic have described the Supreme Court as
an "All India Miscellaneous Court".
In recent years cases of bribery, acceptance of
facilities and perks at the cost of clients have
besmirched the reputation of judges sitting in
higher as well as in lower court
5. Identification of block-holes
India has only 14 judges per 10 lakh people and studies have
shown that cases under certain statutes and areas of law are
choking the dockets of magisterial and specialized courts.
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
SOME PROBABLE SOLUTIONS
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.
Removal of these block-holes:
Setting up of fast track courts, family courts, consumer courts,
special courts for ST/ST cases will speed up the procedure of justice
Fast Track procedures must be evolved to deal with the cases
earmarked as causing bottlenecks.
Special Courts to process cases on a non-stop day-to-day basis
with no adjournments except in rare circumstances.
6. Clubbing of Cases
Clubbing cases which raise same/similar issues is a healthy
practice which helps in block disposal of such cases. Cases raising
the same point, when initiated in any Court, must be first listed for
early hearing and disposed off before the flood actually invades the
Court. The tendency to allow such batch-cases to accumulate into
hundreds should be deplored.
Keeping courts away from political influence
the judges and the lawyers should not get influenced from politics
Allotting fixed amount of time for cases that do
not involve witnesses
For civil cases a fixed amount of time should be allotted so thatFor civil cases a fixed amount of time should be allotted so that
cases can be solved expeditiously.
Allotting specified time to a judge for a case after
which the case goes to another judge
This measure will ensure that timely justice is being provided to the
citizens because if a particular judge cannot provide timely justice
then we must change him/her.
Laws must be made flexible according to severity
of cases
Amendments in the laws should be flexible and must be
implemented.
7. E-Courts mean paperless Courts. This system is being followed by courts at
various levels in the United States, as well as in our Supreme Court, though with
limited success. To effectively achieve this objective, the following steps are
required to be carried out
Papers, pleadings etc. are filed online
The scrutiny takes place online by the Registry.
The date of first hearing is communicated online.
The papers are placed before the Court and the Judges have computers screens/laptops.
When an order is dictated by the Court, the order will be typed on a screen. The order will be read by
the Court Officer/Stenographer/ Court Master who would then release the order of the Court under
digital signatures.
A certified hard copy of the order can also be obtained
Payment of Court Fee can be explored with Court Fee debit cards, whose details are entered in
E-COURTS: A STEP TOWARDS EXPEDITIOUS JUSTICE
Payment of Court Fee can be explored with Court Fee debit cards, whose details are entered in
secure online transactions like Pay Pal.
If the Court dismisses the matter or issues notice, the orders will be issued under a secure digital
signature.
Service of notice will also be possible in addition through fax, courier and registered post. Since the
Evidence Act (after the amendment brought about by the Information Technology Act, 2000) now
envisages the use of electronic media to transmit documents, service of notice through email may be
considered to be valid service.
The date of hearing will be electronically communicated.
On the dates specified, there shall be oral arguments within the time specified. However the time
can be extended at the discretion of the Court.
With respect to court fees, it is important that they are electronically generated so as to
avoid fake stamps. The amount can be deposited to the treasury of the Government. As with
electronic transmission of notices, the electronic money order facility of the Indian Postal Service
This system will computerize, record the judicial information and monitor the progress of cases form
the time the case is registered, till it is disposed off with judgment. It will also group similar law points,
court rules, similar cases and related acts An e-Judiciary service may be implemented as a
distributed online web system.
8. Customized application software to be developed
2-6 servers per court complex
4 clients/court & 1 laptop for every judicial officer alongwith
printers & scanners
LAN in every court complex
Internet connectivity ( initially through broadband/dial up &
ultimately thro’ swan)
Power backup through ups & dg sets
IMPLEMENTATION
Power backup through ups & dg sets
Capacity building of judges & court staff thro’ personalized training
Hand holding for 2 years through technical manpower
9. On-line performance monitoring & assessment of judges
Integrated personnel information system & computerized financial
accounting
Email facility to judges to ensure smooth communication
Auto-generation of statutory reports/returns
Online information to government departments
Status of pending cases of every court to be available on-line
Web-based public access to cause list, case details
Service of notices & summons of higher courts by electronic means
IMPACTS
Service of notices & summons of higher courts by electronic means
E-filing of cases in all courts
Availability of digitally signed court orders and judgments on the net.
Creation of data base of pending cases
Electronic calculation of court fees
Online assignment of cases
Seamless transfer of data across the judicial system thro’ creation of
national judicial data grid
10. Cases involving strong witnesses cannot be considered.
Evidences cannot be produced using e-courts.
A highly secured network will be required.
CHALLENGES
A highly secured network will be required.
11. These Strategic Initiatives provide a means for
achieving the major objectives of the National Mission for
Delivery of Justice and Legal Reform namely:
Increasing access by reducing delay and arrears in the
system, and,
Enhancing accountability through structural changes and
by setting performance standards and capacities
Disposal level of the national system should be raised
from 60% of total case load (as at present) to 95%-100%
of total case load in three years. This target must be
established at the district and State levels. Each court to
ensure that no more than 5% of the cases in that court
CONCLUSION
ensure that no more than 5% of the cases in that court
should be more than 5 years old (5x5 rule) within the next
three years; and in 5 years, to ensure that no more than
1% of the cases should be more than 1 year old (1x1
rule).
It is the need of hour that legal and judicial setup be
streamlined right from lower level so that the gradually
deteriorating confidence of common man in the judiciary
could be restored. The judiciary is responsible to provide
fair and expeditious justice,. it is also responsible to
safeguard the legal and fundamental rights of the citizen
immediate attention is required to be paid to make the
judiciary most competent suitable to the need of the
society in our democratic setup.
