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Journalism of Courage
If they were a nation,it would be as populous as Canada. But Indias 31.2 million pending court cases dont have Canadas size to spread out in style. For our ill-equipped,creaky,starved-for-space judicial system simply cannot
afford this heavy a burden,nor can a society as unequal as ours wait this long for delivery. Which is why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Justice of India K.G.
One of the biggest causes of delay is the lack of judges to man the courts. Singh has asked high court chief justices to fill up these vacancies. As he noted,there are about 3,000 judicial posts vacant all over India. Vacancies in the subordinate judiciary are a particular problem: almost one fourth of these are empty. The CJI suggests that high court judges also increase their workload from a current 210 workdays a year thats 155 days of holiday every year,to 220 an additional 10 working days per year. In the alternative,high court judges can work an extra half hour per day. Given that our case load is one of the worlds worst,these measures are perhaps too conservative,and the debate,once begun,may beget more aggressive solutions.
The CJI added that while court dockets are bursting at the seams,justice is increasingly inaccessible to Indias disempowered millions. It is true,without doubt,that solving delays alone does not make justice more accessible. But it is a good way to begin. Filling up vacancies and modestly denting the many holidays judges enjoy dont require the courage and heart that the prime minister asks of us. These obvious measures require just a bit of plain sense. With both the prime minister and chief justice of India on the same page,the next step is implementation. It is hoped that these ideas aimed at combating delay are not caught up in,well,delay.
