Going through the daily dose of information a la my morning newspaper, my slothful eyes caught sight of an article with the header: ‘inadequate judge strength in the Indian courts’.
With a ‘tell me something I don’t know’ expression I read further…………..
The article gave an account of the number of cases pending in the various High Courts in India, the numbers were staggering. Together the caseload was enormous, about 20 Lakhs ( 20 hundred thousand) cases alone in the 4 major High Courts, that also after excluding the Delhi High Court (one of the biggest court in India), whereas the total number of Judges allotted in these four High Courts numbered not more than 340. The shortage seemed conspicuous. No wonder the Indian judiciary system is reeling under a crisis!
It set me thinking.
In this age of rapid modernization, as our lives get complicated and we don’t seem to be able to clean our own mess, to sort out our differences, our dependency on civil and criminal courts increases by the day. As a result of the inadequacy of the courts to mete out speedy justice, the backlog of cases quadruples. The process continues till one day the courts are unable to cope with it anymore. What happens then?
As it goes, people are continually losing faiths in the country’s judicial system. The inefficiency of the Courts means that the common man has to wait for justice till eternity, and even then the current ‘power structure’ is such, that one might not ultimately get deliverance. People then resort to ‘unlawful’ means to ‘settle their scores’ outside the courts. A dysfunctional Judiciary thus, in principle, acts as a catalyst for anarchical measures – exactly the thing it is suppose to curb.
Having said that, the need for an efficient and transparent Judiciary has long been felt by everybody, except for maybe some of our power-friendly politicians and bureaucrats who like to flex their muscles now and then and find the judiciary as their biggest adversary. Perhaps we just need to cast an attentive glance towards some of India’s neighbouring countries to acknowledge the necessity of a well-oiled judiciary. The collective frustration of being kept too long away from justice augurs badly for the biggest Democracy in the world.
After all, ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.
With a ‘tell me something I don’t know’ expression I read further…………..
The article gave an account of the number of cases pending in the various High Courts in India, the numbers were staggering. Together the caseload was enormous, about 20 Lakhs ( 20 hundred thousand) cases alone in the 4 major High Courts, that also after excluding the Delhi High Court (one of the biggest court in India), whereas the total number of Judges allotted in these four High Courts numbered not more than 340. The shortage seemed conspicuous. No wonder the Indian judiciary system is reeling under a crisis!
It set me thinking.
In this age of rapid modernization, as our lives get complicated and we don’t seem to be able to clean our own mess, to sort out our differences, our dependency on civil and criminal courts increases by the day. As a result of the inadequacy of the courts to mete out speedy justice, the backlog of cases quadruples. The process continues till one day the courts are unable to cope with it anymore. What happens then?
As it goes, people are continually losing faiths in the country’s judicial system. The inefficiency of the Courts means that the common man has to wait for justice till eternity, and even then the current ‘power structure’ is such, that one might not ultimately get deliverance. People then resort to ‘unlawful’ means to ‘settle their scores’ outside the courts. A dysfunctional Judiciary thus, in principle, acts as a catalyst for anarchical measures – exactly the thing it is suppose to curb.
Having said that, the need for an efficient and transparent Judiciary has long been felt by everybody, except for maybe some of our power-friendly politicians and bureaucrats who like to flex their muscles now and then and find the judiciary as their biggest adversary. Perhaps we just need to cast an attentive glance towards some of India’s neighbouring countries to acknowledge the necessity of a well-oiled judiciary. The collective frustration of being kept too long away from justice augurs badly for the biggest Democracy in the world.
After all, ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.
