Trial and error at courts

Patiala House Courts,Tis Hazari,Rohini and Dwarka district courts also lack these boards. The courts also do not have electronic information desks.

Challenge for disabled
The proposal of shifting all Motor Accident Claims Tribunals to the ground floor to assist physically challenged litigants has also gone unheeded.

“It is not such a big issue to shift the courtrooms — even judges (sometimes ask) for a shift due to personal reasons,” says advocate Lokesh Kumar,who specialises in motor accident cases. “It is also beyond comprehension why they could not procure wheelchairs for the disabled litigants.”

Witness protection
Special measures were enumerated for witness protection in the proposal. Till now,nothing has changed so far as rape trials are concerned — there are no screens to separate victims from the accused.

According to former High Court judge R S Sodhi,if witnesses are not protected,justice is the eventual casualty. “I don’t think it would take more than a year to install screens in rape trials or cases involving innocent children,” he says. “Eye contact in such matters has to be avoided.

Proposed presence of a psychologist in matrimonial discord cases,is also not implemented.

It was also emphasised that witnesses should not be sent away from a court unexamined,but this principle has been left to the discretion of judges.

Infrastructure
Tiny courtrooms
According to the proposal,courtrooms had to be made more spacious and the size of the judge’s podium had to be reduced to make way for better seating of witnesses and lawyers.

At several courtrooms in Tis Hazari,Karkardooma and Patiala House,where the size of rooms is too small. Since many of these are magisterial courts,which record a higher footfall than sessions courts,the need for spacious rooms is more urgent.

Most courtrooms also lack air-coolers and air-conditioners.

Hygiene concerns
The oldest and largest court complex in Asia,Tis Hazari,welcomes its guests with chaotic parking,corridors filled with garbage,stinking washrooms,and no provisions of clean drinking water.

Karkardooma and Patiala House fare no better in terms of hygiene and provisions for litigants. Rohini and Dwarka courts are on a better footing.

Chamber troubles
Lawyers at Rohini and Dwarka courts — considered to be modern district court complexes — are still waiting for allotment of chambers. In the interim,they are compelled to work from the parking area and corridors.

While the construction of new chamber block at Karkardooma court complex was completed recently,the allotment could not be done due to a bitter fight among advocates over allocation.

The matter reached the Delhi High Court and is pending there.

“At Dwarka,chambers were ready two years ago but lack of uniform guidelines has held up the allotment. We are forced to invite our clients to the parking lot to discuss cases,” says P S Singh,a former office-bearer of Dwarka Courts Bar Association.

Pending cases
Cracking ageing cases
As per the proposed measures,all cases at least 15 years old had to be disposed of by the end of 2009. Several circulars in this regard have been distributed at all courts by respective judges in-charge to identify all pending 20-year-old cases and decide at least once every month. The judges have also been asked to set a yearly target,and achieve it.

The first half-yearly report on pending cases says as on June 30,more than 12 lakh cases were pending in various courts across the Capital. Of them,6,21,018 cases were disposed of in the first half of the year.

Bounced cheques
Evening courts to handle cases for bounced cheques up to Rs 25,000 have been set up in all courts. These courts work for two hours after normal working hours to settle cases.

Plea bargaining
Plea bargaining courts have been set up at Tis Hazari on experimental basis to clear cases with chances of a quick and mutually satisfactory settlement.

Plea bargaining is an exercise to arrive at an agreement in a criminal case where the prosecutor and the accused assemble to settle a case. While the accused agrees to plead guilty,or not to contest the charges,the prosecution concedes leniency in punishment in exchange to the plea.

Approximately two cases per day are being settled this way,official statistics say. The judges are also looking for other Alternate Dispute Redressal (ADR) mechanism,like mediation and conciliation,to lessen the burden of the regular courts.