Ensuring expeditious and timely justice to all

CITIZEN’S APPEAL

Team: PARIVARTAN(122)College: Indian Institute Of Technology, Delhi

Nitish Goel Alok Parul Gupta Shiven Rastogi Vivek Kumar Gupta

The Problem

58519

67946

90000

0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000

Supreme Courts

Pendency of Cases

4324742

5021428

6651289

0 2000000 4000000 6000000 8000000

HighCourts

26986307

31333612

41503915

0 10000000 20000000 30000000 40000000 50000000

SubordinateCourts

2020 (Estimated) 2013 2011

The problem of judiciary is one which affects the country as a whole and not a particular section of the society or a group of people. Considering the

high crime rate in India, the provision of expeditious and timely justice is a must.

Causes for the current situation:• Shortage of staff at all levels• Lack of infrastructure• Inadequate budget allocation• Heavy paperwork in compiling data• Less availability of data in real-time• Less awareness amongst the masses

INEFFICIENCY

The Redressal : Bridging the gap between Requirement and Availability

FactorTime

Judge to population

ratio.

No. of judges in 21

High courts

No of Supreme Court

Judges.

Subordinate courts

Present condition 14 per 10 lakh 622 28 14924

Present requirement 40 per 10 lakh 895 31 18871

Requirement After 5

years

50 per 10 lakh 1700(Calculated) 50(Rough estimate as

per ratios)

42640

The more the merrier is something in which Indians don’t seem to believe in. Unfortunately, elite and prestigious jobs of judges, are also facing an acute shortage of human resources and there seems to be no way out of it.

India has just 13 judges for every ten lakh people as against 35-40 in other developing nations and 50 in a developed country. Department of Justice informed the panel that of the 18,000 positions of judges, about 15,000 are presiding the

courts and there is a proposal to add another 15,000 positions in the next five years which will take the number to 30,000. Moreover, minimum number of staff in a given Court is fixed by Government Circulars unmindful of the number of matters

in that Court.

Proposed Solution

Introduction of prestigious

IJS exam

Reforms at School/College

level

Reducing Job insecurity

Introduction of prestigious IJS examIf implemented in letter and spirit, the creation of All India Judiciary Serviceswould naturally help attract bright and capable young law graduates to thejudiciary, who otherwise prefer immediate remunerative employment in thegovernment and the private sector. For the subordinate judicial officers itwould ensure equitable service conditions besides providing them with awider field to probe their mettle.The measure of uniformity in standards for selection will improve the qualityof personnel in different high courts, as about one-third of judges comethere on promotion from the subordinate courts. In this process onlypersons of proven competence will preside over the benches of superiorcourts, thereby minimizing the scope of partiality, arbitrariness andaberrations in judicial selection. Simultaneously, the quality of dispensationof justice will also improve considerably right from the top to the bottom, asit essentially depends upon the quality of judges recruited.The reform should help considerably in toning up the judicial administrationby throwing open appointments to talented persons across the country. Inaddition, the objective of introducing an outside element in high courtbenches can be achieved better and more smoothly because a member ofan all-India judicial service will have no mental block about interstatetransfers. It will enrich their experience and make them better judges.

The Redressal : Bridging the gap between Requirement and Availability

Reforms at School/College levelBesides setting up more Law colleges in India,changes in school level course regarding law andorder should be proposed which shall provide abetter insight into the field. Introduce new courseslike ”Legal Studies” in classes X and XII so that astudent could at least know of his interest in aspecific region. “Case Studies” of certain importantand debatable cases can also be incorporated inCivics which would build up students’ interest. Atcollege level, introduction of compulsory course onintroduction to law would help to popularize thefield amongst youngsters. Law should be projectedas a challenging profession which involvesinterpretation of the law according to a givensituation. Since Legal Studies and Law is an arealeast explored, not many people know of whatexactly a job of lawyer is, because of which there isa direct effect on the number of lawyers and judgesin the system.

Reducing Job insecurity

Considering that there is a provision to appoint distinguished lawyers as judges , the following measures can be adopted to tackle shortage of

staff

1. Indian Law Services: Introducing services like Indian Law Services with the objective to appoint public prosecutors and other government employed lawyers. The minimum age limit of 35 years for public prosecutor should be reduced to 25, along with the introduction of a concept of training, similar to those in other civil services.

2. Government consulting firms could be set up with a sole purpose of providing legal consultancy to the needy.

3. Alternative Profession choices : Lawyers and judges could indulge in policy and law making. The skills developed through legal studies are sufficient for one to get involved in such a thing as these skills can be generalized into many frames of life. As a matter of fact, many great leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Ambedkar and Nehru come from such a background.

Reforms at School/College

level

• Will create interest among students towards the field before they actually decide their career plan.

Introduction of prestigious

IJS exam

• Will make law a coveted profession.

• Same influence as IAS exam has on parents/students.

Reducing Job insecurity

• Will help drive away the fear of unemployment.

• Would be a step to tackle unemployment in general.

Implementation

Reforms at School/College level Central and state education

departments need to consult thesubject experts to design thecurriculum to be taught.

Further appointment of teachersneeds to be made to teach thesesubjects to the students.

Financial ConsiderationsThe Education department alreadyhas access to a good proportion ofthe country’s GDP, therefore there isno need for allocation of new funds.

Introduction of prestigious IJS exam Article 312 provides for the creation of

an All India services if the council ofstates has declared by resolutionsupported by 2/3rd majority that it isthe in the national interest so to do,Parliament may by law provide for thecreation of one or more all India services.

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)can be directed to organize an All IndiaJudicial services exam.

Financial Considerations • Payment of newly recruited judges as per

Govt. of India norms.• Making provision of various perks.

Infrastructural Considerations• New Court complexes, residential

complexes and transport facilities

Human Resources• Appointment of staff to complement

new judges.

Reducing Job insecurity Annual recruitments for the

Indian law services can be doneby a two step procedure- awritten exam and an interview.Selected candidates can betrained for two years to attainthe required skills and thevarious disciplines like criminalcases, property disputes etc. canbe allotted on the combinedbasis of merit and interest

Introduction of a few otherrelevant humanities subjects inlaw graduation can give studentsa better insight into alternateoptions available to them likelegal writing, editing andpublishing. A lawyer’s researchwork proves highly effective forcertain reforms that are required

Targeting Effectiveness: Improving Efficiency

Training• Every judge must be trained

and imparted Communicationand management skills andsome degree of knowledge ofnon-legal areas such associology and psychology. Forthose who are likely to dealwith economic laws, specializedknowledge of economics,finance and accounting and forthose specializing inenvironment cases, specialknowledge of environmentallaws will be necessary.

• An year long induction training program for newly recruited Prosecutors and Judges, a part of which should be with the police, forensic laboratories, courts and prisons

No more PleadingsBoth the prosecution as well asthe respondent party mustdirectly summarize theirviewpoint initially, this woulddirectly effect the time taken forthe case to complete. It woulddrastically reduce the time takenin the initial stages of the casewhere the lawyers seek dates inorder to prepare their cases

Categorization of Courts in India Outside the pyramid of courts ofgeneral jurisdiction ,more specialcourts such as environmentalcourts, employment courts,coroner’s court, administrativeappeals tribunal, marketmisconduct tribunals etc. shouldbe established and especially aWomen’s court for crimes relatedto women. Such categorizationwould naturally deciding the casesmore quickly as the judge wouldbe able to arrive to conclusionsbased on his experience onhandling a particular type of cases

Functioning of the courtsIncrease of court time by half an hour and avoidance ofunnecessary adjournments by introducing a rule thatcompensates the accused for delay in justice.

Helping out the judgesA panel of experts be drawn from various disciplines suchas auditing, computer science, banking, engineering andrevenue matters etc. to assist the judge in understandingthe technical aspects of the case before them

Technological inputsSMS servers can be set up to inform the accused ordefendant to appear before the court instead to letters,and people can be fined if they fail to comply. This willsave a lot of time and money

The role of LawyersLawyers are often involved in the disruption of court workon occasions such as the death of a local dignitary orstrikes and end up skipping the work for the day. Suchdisruptions need to be avoided and lawyers bereprimanded for employing delay tactics in order toharass the accused.

Ensuring the police does its jobIn criminal cases, a lot depends on the police action forpresenting the necessary evidences and producing theaccused. Police is sometimes casual in these matters whichleads to unnecessary delay as the hearing cannot take place.Strict directives be issued to the police to ensure that theypossess all the adequate information

Appraisal of judgesThe best way to get the maximum out of the judges is to linktheir performance in deciding the pending cases to theirpromotions by including a section corresponding to it intheir ACRs. This way, they will be more motivated to cope upwith the large number of cases in their courts.

Targeting Effectiveness: Improving Efficiency

Implementation

New rules regarding the functioning of the courts are introduced by the Supreme Court. The directives issued are implemented throughout the country. All the measures adopted for the method of functioning of the various courts are brought into effect by the Supreme Court. It can set an example by delivering a judgment in cases where they have been pending for a long time by bringing into consideration this fact. Such a ruling will be binding on the lower courts and many cases on similar patterns can be decided quickly.

Fast track courts and their categorization has to be approved by the Government and the judges appointed to run these courts.

Incorporating technology in the day to day working of the courts can be implemented with the help of Telecom Ministry and Department of Science and Technology which can provide the necessary digital infrastructure

The necessary funds need to be accounted for only by the Government because private funding would affect the impartiality of the courts. Some funds from the defence sector could be diverted to the judiciary because India, being a developing nation cannot afford to cut down on funds for education, research etc. The wars nowadays are more psychological in nature. Moreover, creation of necessary infrastructure is a single time investment and the subsequent funds needed would be lesser

Separate funds for law research should be put aside which will ultimately prove useful for policy framing in various fields

Impact

Our proposed solutions to the problem of pendency of cases in India, if implemented successfully will surely go a great way inthe provision of timely justice to the people of India. A solution to such a problem is useless if it cannot be expressed in theform of numbers.

Criteria to measure the impactThe best criteria to measure the impact of the solution would be to ascertain the number of cases disposed offwithin a stipulated period of time. The solution can be considered successful if its implementation reduces thepending cases. For the academic reforms, surveys can be conducted which would throw light on the number ofstudents opting for law

SustainabilityThe solutions proposed by us are sustainable and do not involve any long term implications. The measuressuggested for improving the efficiency of the judges can be continuously monitored and based on the outputs andshortcomings, new measures can be suggested and the system improved

Appropriate monitoring mechanismsSurveys by external agencies cannot be carried out in the matters of the judiciary. Internal reviews have to becarried out effectively and the reports submitted to ensure that everything is being followed. The subordinatecourts are monitored by High Courts. Performance indicators in the form of appraisal reports which highlight theefficiency of the judges in disposing of old cases

Challenges and Mitigation Factors

Implementation of the solution to a problem as grave as ensuring timely justice poses certain challenges as well. Bringing into effect something on an all-India basis is no easy job considering the diversity in India. It is next to impossible to propose a please-all solution. These are the challenges which we believe might confront our solutions

Challenges to the proposed solution• Economic: Allocation of funds for the new workforce and creation of necessary infrastructure can be a tedious

process considering the elaborate procedure in place for approving any funding scheme by the Government. It is the Central Government which mainly provides the funds for judiciary. States have been making negligible provision in the Budgets to the third pillar of democracy.

• Political: Creation of an All India services requires ⅔ ratification of the states and both the houses of the Parliament. It can be a difficult task to accomplish. For instance, people in favour of regionalism could oppose people coming from other states to serve as judges citing cultural and language differences.

Means to mitigate the identified challenges• Political: Such people need to made aware of the benefits of an All India service. Training programmes to

familiarise the judges with the local tradition can be initiated which would also help them in deciding the cases.

• Economic: The States should volunteer to provide more funds to the judiciary as timely justice is an indispensable part of good governance. The requests of the judicial funds should be fast tracked so that courts could perform their duties unhindered.

Appendix

References:

1. National Court Management Systems : Policy and Action plan dated 27-09-20122. REFORMS IN THE JUDICIARY – SOME SUGGESTIONS by Law Commission of India.3. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-06/india/40406927_1_hc-judges-higher-

judiciary-high-courts4. http://www.thestatesman.net/news/3828-merits-of-all-india-judicial-service.html?page=15. http://www.thestatesman.net/news/3828-merits-of-all-india-judicial-service.html?page=2