The Hindu Business Line : <I>Judges as case managers </I>

For as long as one can remember, the huge number of cases pending in Indian courts has been the staple of Law Commission reports, articles in professional journals and the media, and discussions in seminars and conferences. The latest occasion was the Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices held on April 8, at which the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, mentioned the figure of 2.5 crore, and asked for the effective curbing of judicial delays.

The Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Mr Justice A. P. Shah, has said that as on June 30, 2006, the pending civil and criminal cases in the High Courts were 29.68 lakh and 36.54 lakh respectively, the corresponding numbers for the subordinate courts being 72.37 lakh and 2.48 crore, taking the total to 3.87 crore, exceeding Dr Singh's figure by more than a crore. Whatever it is, the combined wisdom of the plethora of suggestions emanating from hundreds of forums all over the country has been unable to break the back of the problem. The prime reason is the self-defensive attitude taken by the judiciary itself whenever the subject is brought up. Its tendency is to look for scapegoats outside of itself, ascribing the malaise to vacancies, inadequate number of judges, lack of infrastructure and the like.

The response of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Mr K. G. Balakrishnan, at the above-mentioned Conference, to the criticism of the backlog was also on expected lines, tinged with some acerbity, as when he said: "The courts do not possess a magic wand which they can wave to wipe out the huge pendency of cases". He was for zero vacancy in courts and implementation "swiftly and effectively" of the Law Commission's recommendations of a five-fold increase (from the present 10.5 to 50 judges per million of population) in judicial strength and expansion and modernisation of facilities and amenities to buttress the judicial system. While there is no gainsaying the merits of these arguments, it is still possible for the judicial fraternity, within the existing constraints, to make a dent on the arrears, if only it would tone up the rules and procedures within its purview.

Case management

The reduction of pendency requires justice dispensers to double up as determined case managers. Recently, in Australia, the UK and the US, enormous advances have been made towards the new concept of ``case management". Sweeping changes in rules and procedures governing hearings and trials have been effected with a view to putting limits on the size of the briefs, regulating recording of evidence, providing for pretrial conferences, fixing calendars prioritising cases, imposing time limit on argument, monitoring the progress of complex cases, punishing non-compliance of court directions, involving judges in the swift progress of cases by issuing directions on all interlocutory matters, conducting the proceedings in a way that the case gets over on schedule and using the alternative mechanisms such as conciliation, mediation and arbitration to the full. The detailed account of the art and science of case management is contained in a brilliant paper "Management of Court Cases at the Trial and at the Appellate Court Level'' by Mr Justice R. K. Abichandani, formerly of the Gujarat High Court.

He is in no doubt that "the High Courts have ample powers to make necessary changes to manage the affairs of the courts in such a manner that would bring about speedy and cost-effective disposal of cases''. The CJI will do well to make his paper compulsory reading for all the judges who may then be encouraged to put those precepts into practice.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

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