My original intention of writing this article was to list down some thoughts and salient points that I think are the key for reforms in the Judiciary. As I was jotting them down, they sounded very common sense-like to me. I began to think – is it really possible that the learned judiciary is not aware of such small things? I then thought, let’s google and see what reports have to say about these. Turns out that for 40 years, there are multiple reports prepared by different committees; multiple articles in the media by many learned folks and many generic reports filed by today’s media; and speeches by the learned Judges themselves!

Recently, Shri Kanchan Gupta reminded us about the whopping number of nearly 4 crore backlog cases in our courts. Amidst such a severe backlog, I couldn’t help but wonder why the likes of Prashant Bhushan get such a free hand in ruining the court’s time over his frivolous ego?

I thought I will write a brilliant suggestion to the Judiciary advising them to increase the number of Judges in our country. Only to find out that there are nearly 400 existing positions of Judges that are lying vacant just in our High Courts. How is it possible in a country like ours that we have so many vacant posts for Judges? Is it really that difficult for our learned judiciary to find just a few people to fill up the most critical posts of the judicial systems – the Judges? Doesn’t it baffle your mind that in a country as large as ours, we have only 34 SC Judges and of that, at any given point of time ~10% of them lie vacant? Feel very free to extrapolate this number to the lowest court of the country (As of 2018, 5000 are vacant!) and then you will know that baffling is a small word to use for this situation.

You think about under-trials and their plight. The legal fees for continuous representation are so high that the undertrials languish in jails for months and years together. And then you realise that the learned Judiciary hasn’t even applied any thought to their plight. Each time, the case comes up for hearing, the default option is to give a new date. The default option is that the under-trial stays in jail till the new date. And the story repeats for every new date. How is it that the learned Judiciary can’t put additional burden on the executive, instead of the prisoner. Why can’t the default option after 2 extensions be bail for the under-trial prisoner? Especially when the Judiciary itself called this as a “crying shame on the judicial system”, way back in 1978!

You may come back with – oh, do you want murderers to roam free on the street? Of course not! Even in criminal cases, why can’t the learned Judiciary have a clear discrimination in violent and non-violent crimes? Why can’t the Judiciary enforce stricter timelines for filing of charge sheets; enforce severe penalties on the case officers; enforce severe penalties on Judges who take a lenient view of repeated delays by the executive? Doesn’t it baffle your mind how our learned Judiciary is simply oblivious to implementing these basic suggestions?

Sometimes, for better optics, courts come up with a dramatic judgment. For example - Cases against elected representatives will be heard daily. Do we have a single example of a case getting disposed of within a month because of hearings daily? First of all, you will find it extremely difficult to even get a list of cases that are being heard daily for this elite group of individuals! There is a CBI Court in Hyderabad that is hearing cases against AP CM Jagan Mohan Reddy, every Friday since the past 8-10 years. And yet the cases linger on. Imagine the plight of a lesser mortal who doesn’t have the wherewithal to fund his bail hearing once a quarter?

The problem of the 5-star lawyers eating up Supreme Court’s time to satisfy their egos is miniscule compared to the humungous delays caused at the lower rung. There are no 5-star lawyers who waste court’s time at the lower rung. There are many studies that already exist about the procedural wrangling’s that cause these delays and solutions for the same. Our citizens are woefully under-informed of their legal rights in case they fall into trouble with the system; and are woefully powerless to fight the corrupt people of this very system. We definitely deserve a better awareness of our legal rights.

What really is needed is that the Judiciary needs to feel the pressure, just like our executive and legislative wings feel at times. What really is needed is for Judiciary to adopt self-correcting measures on the same line that the executive and legislative wings have done over the years. What really is needed is for Judiciary to learn from how the executive and legislative wings have enforced change from within.

Popular uprisings, meaningful debates, social and mainstream media pressure, adaptability to change – these are some of the things that led to both the executive and legislature make far reaching changes in how they function. We don’t need verbose judgments or rhetorical speeches. We need speedier justice and if the learned Judiciary can’t do what it takes to ensure it, then it’s a matter of time before some of these things will make the Judiciary do it. Is the learned Judiciary really waiting for these to happen?

Image Credits: Live Mint