Use modern technology to
make Judiciary efficient
India’s courts are
clogged with long-pending cases. The real extent of judicial pendency in India
is nearly impossible to estimate on account of an utter lack of standardisation
in data classification and management systems; virtually every State is a law
unto itself, collecting and classifying case data as it chooses, making it
impossible to compare with the neighbouring State. This is not a purely
technical concern; it has severely hamstrung India’s efforts to understand the
nature of not just judicial delay, but the judicial process itself. The
technology to resolve this is now easily and cheaply available. Why not use the technology?
The procedure
involved in handling the cases in courts is of stone age and this leads to
delay in solving cases in less time. The whole system need to be metamorphised
to a system in which the courts have different unit for different cases as it
will consume less time for a case to be solved. But it hardly seems to be implemented
due to inadequate number of judges. We can seek recommendations from courts abroad.
Indian courts should use modern technology to enhance their ability to cope
with the complications.
All the witnesses and
their testimony are recorded on papers which can be done now electronically.
All simple matters like challans should be finished in the Office of IPS and
should go to the court. Cases should be assigned to judges & lawyers based
on their backlog, bandwidth & capability.
Sometime it
appears that the problem is not with judiciary but with the lagislature and
executive who create unconstitutional or arbitrary laws. This pathetic
situation will never changes unless the other too organs do their work
properly. You cannot just blame judiciary.
Since Independence
Political Leaders and Judicial Authorities in the name of separation of powers
and confusion in clearly demarcating the boundaries between them in the
constitution, are continuously fighting for the supremacy rather than
reciprocating each other for the welfare of the Common people ,
Indian Judicial
establishment is too slow to reinvent itself and come up with a scheme to
provide speedy justice. The judiciary should think about it within it, and find
out how a speedy justice can be provided. Or else it would lead to a situation
where justice is tardy and delayed and there is no authority in the country
which can improve the situation. That would be really dangerous for the nation
in the long run.
Indians are not as
litigious as other countries. But the main problem is the time taken by courts
to handle a case. In 26/11 case USA was much quicker to prosecute David
Headley, India took much longer to prosecute Ajmal Kasab. Total re-engineering of processes to
minimize appeals is needed. All and sundry cases go to Supreme Court, whereas
High Court should have handled it. The PILs and special cases again take away
band-width from courts. Certain cases should start only at High Courts and
certain others end there, so that the number of levels is reduced to two and
only in rare cases SC should intervene. SC should generally handle the cases
which raise nation-wide issues. The automation should be done with the help of
service providers quickly than just rely on Government agencies.
The attitude that
resists reforms should go away. There really is no genuine attempt on the part
of the Bench and the Bar to let go outdated systems and embrace technology to
speed up matters. It is as if the legal fraternity treats justice delivery as
their internal matter which they can deal with as they please. No matter how
many new judges are appointed, no matter how many new courts are created, no
matter how long the working hours are, the Sisyphean tragedy of docket
explosion exacerbating the pendency will persist to haunt the people of this
country, unless honourable judges and distinguished lawyers sit together and
chalk out an actionable plan to sort out the mess. The government also should
act as a facilitator of change.
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