The Hindu Business Line : On quick dispensation of justice

At the end of 1998, there were 3.2 million cases pending in the country's High Courts; almost 40 per cent of them for over five years. By the end of 2005, the number was a little over 3.5 million.

The number of pending cases was thus growing at an annual average of 3.1 per cent. Of the total pending cases in 2005, the proportion of civil to criminal cases was 77:23 . The number of pending cases per thousand people was 3.7 (2.8 civil, 0.9 criminal).

The pendancy was the lowest in the Sikkim High Court — 0.1 per thousand. In Delhi, Punjab and Jharkhand, it ranged from eight to ten per thousand.

Criminal cases were the highest in Jharkand, at eight per thousand; in all other States it was two or less.

When it comes to pendancy at the district and subordinate courts, data are available for all States and Union Territories, adding up to 35 regional units. The number of pending cases was a huge 25.5 million at the end of 2005. This implies 23.3 per thousand — civil, 6.4 and criminal, 16.9.

The lowest incidence of pending cases was, again, in Sikkim, at 1.1 per thousand people against 60 in Delhi, 73 in Gujarat, 76 in Chandigarh and 118 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In the latter four, the majority was of criminal cases at 51, 58, 57 and 114 per thousand respectively.

For the sake of development

It is often said that justice delayed is justice denied. There is more to it than that. In a November 2000 study, Dr Wolfgang Köhling (then of the University of Bonn and the World Bank) found a relation between judiciary quality and economic development based on data from Indian States. Quality was measured in terms of backlog of cases and frequency of appeals .

It was found that a weak judiciary had a negative effect on economic and social development, affecting poverty, economic activity and crime.

The Chief Justices' Conference 2007 (April 6-7) paid special attention to the "steps to be taken for reduction of arrears, speedy disposal of cases and increase in the strength of Judges at all levels... "

The measures proposed include the ad hoc appointment of judges, linking the increase in judge strength in the High Court to pending cases and the trend in new cases, transfer of cases involving petty offences to the Courts of Special Metropolitan Magistrates/Special Judicial Magistrates, setting up of Additional Magisterial Courts to deal with complaints under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, setting up of evening/morning courts to be presided over either by serving or retired Judicial Officers, adoption of the National Plan for Mediation by each High Court, etc.

Establishment of e-courts and making use of IT in the justice delivery system has also been proposed.

Law-breaking law-makers

Quick dispensation of justice is feasible when a person is caught red-handed. The country's judicial profile will take a great leap forward if the culprit, especially if he happens to be a lawmaker, is punished within days rather than months or years.

The recent case involving a Member of Parliament, for instance, has both attributes: He was caught red-handed and he happened to be a lawmaker. The MP was arrested on April 18 while allegedly trying to take a woman and a boy out of the country on his wife's and son's passports respectively.

As an extension of the case at hand, any prolonged investigation is worthwhile if it unearths more law-breakers. Yet, delay in meting out punishment to the guilty will only lead to more doubts and disenchantment with the system.

Suspension from Parliament and party are not great deterrents. Debarring the guilty from elections, imprisonment, confiscation of property, etc., are all feasible and will go a long way in showing that the system is not soft on the erring.

This is not the occasion for Opposition leaders to take pot-shots at the leaders of the ruling party, or vice-versa.

In fact, the public seems to have made better sense of the incident, as was visible in the readers' columns in the print media .

We're Being Watched

At a time when we are seeking investments from global players and external markets, aiming to boost economic growth, employment growth and poverty reduction, one cannot be complacent and assume that the country is not being watched.

Apropos the MP case, here is the tailpiece of an article posted on April 22 on the Channel News Asia site: "The scandal is the latest to embroil the country's political classes. A number of politicians face criminal charges but their cases have still to be resolved under India's slow-moving justice system... In 2005, 11 MPs were caught on camera stuffing wads of bank-notes into their pockets in exchange for asking questions in Parliament... A 2004 study by an independent watchdog found nearly one quarter of the 540-plus representatives in the lower House of Parliament faced criminal charges... "

(The author, formerly with the National University of Singapore and the World Bank, is Professor Emeritus, GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade, Visakhapatnam and Visiting Faculty, Sri Sathya Sai University, Prashanti Nilayam. He can be reached at bhanoji@gmail.com)

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