The Hindu Business Line : Call to put legal system on the fast track

TECH-savvy foreign lawyers are getting ready to invade the country, and if "we do not modernise our judiciary and fill up vacancies for judges in the various High Courts soon, and equip the Members of the Bar adequately to face this challenge, we may get swamped by the deluge", Dr H.R. Bhardwaj, Union Minister of Law and Justice, has said.

Talking to Business Line here after the inaugural session of a two-day meet on `Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)', organised by the Judicial Department of West Bengalin collaboration with Union Ministry of Law & Justice, International Centre of ADR, New Delhi, and the West Bengal State Legal Services Authority, the Minister said a provision of Rs 400 crore has already been made to modernise the High Courts and the District Courts in the country, and this programme should be completed within the next four years.

According to him, the Supreme Court could reduce backlog substantially through computerisation. He urged the judicial system to wake up and mount efforts to integrate with the global system. "Just as in US, we too need to develop our own fast track system of speedier justice, and ADR is the way forward. He suggested comprehensive training in ADR techniques for lawyers to sharpen their skills and keep pace with the rest of the world.

The Minister pointed out that commercial disputes world over are now moving out of the adversarial court system, and getting solved through cost-effective conciliation, mediation proceedings.

He said an e-governance cell has already set up within the Law Ministry to make the members of the Bar computer-savvy. "We also need to outsource technology to better equip ourselves," he added.

Suggesting a three-pronged strategy to counter the major challenge before the judiciary he said timely appointment of judges, improving court infrastructure and proper training in non-adversarial alternative dispute resolution (ADR) was essential.

He said out of the 300-odd vacancies for judges in High Courts, of a total allotted number of about 600, "we have been able to plug the gap to the extent of only 120 in a year till date, and expect to reduce this to zero at the earliest".

Earlier, addressing members of the Bar and the Bench, the Minister said the ADR system had the potential to emerge as an alternative, cost-effective system for speedy dispensation of justice. Admitting that the problem of mounting cases/arrears in various courts was proving difficult to manage despite the best effortshe said the superior courts should be relieved of the burden of having to deal with miscellaneous matters, which can easily be tackled through ADR.

According to Mr Justice Tarun Chatterjee, Judge, Supreme Court of India, the judiciary was facing an uphill task in the absence of adequate number of judges. He said as on March 31, 2004, some 27,285 cases were pending in the Supreme Court, 29.7 lakh cases in High Courts and 2.4 crore cases in subordinate courts. In this situation, adoption of an ADR system was the only answer, he pointed out.

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