The problem of case pendency has only worsened,for all Moilys fighting words.
Written by The Indian Express
2 min read
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Our courts are extremely congested places,with the backlog of unresolved cases running into several millions at the subordinate judiciary and high-court levels. The law minister loses no opportunity to lecture the nation about the problems of judicial pendency,but his actions are underwhelming. In fact,things have only got worse in the last couple of years,with a greater shortfall of judges in the high and lower courts.
The crux of the problem is that India has much fewer judges per capita than most countries. Procedural laws make it easy to hold up cases,and delays are often tactically wielded,with tools like interim applications,and adjournments. One can stall proceedings almost indefinitely,if one is a reluctant party to the case. Whats more,litigation lawyers paid per appearance also have an incentive to stretch out the case. And so staggering delays are the norm,as are low settlement rates. There have been many attempts to get around the jam some work has been shifted to regulators with quasi-judicial power,in order to bypass the backlog. However,our courts are still overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of their task.
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But despite the clear signal that judicial workforce planning needs greater attention,and the appointments and promotions process needs to be speeded up,the government cannot seem to shake off the torpor. Several state governments sit on appointments for months,even after they have been cleared by the Supreme Court collegium. There has been no attempt to accelerate this process. This government floated the idea of a national litigation policy given that government is the most frequent litigator in India,it aimed to cut the volume of such work by at least a third,by not filing unnecessary appeals,etc. That plan remains a glint in the law ministers eye. Another idea,of extending terms of high court judges till the age of 65,to incentivise them to come to the SC,also remains a paper promise. There has been little serious attempt to review and update laws. Unless the government plugs vacancies,and makes structural changes to its judicial selection processes,its fine words amount to nothing.
