The prevailing system of administration of justice has, over the years, proved to be inadequate, for various reasons.

On the theoretical plane it gives rise to certain fundamental jurisprudential issues, e.g. the adequacy and efficacy of the present adversary or accusatory system, and the damning dominance of form and procedure in the justice delivery process.

Apart from such basic issues, the system faces a grave crisis of notorious delays, procedural pitfalls and the credibility of the process and personnel involved: the judges, the lawyers and the ministerial apparatus.

The experiments like Loknyayalaya and mediation-conciliation cannot claim to be the substitutes for the system. At best, they can be alleviating factors to help the harassed litigant.

>>>>Our Ethos the Present System<<<<

The present system owes its existence to the colonial rule. Since its inadequacy is thoroughly exposed, now is the time to go into the fundamental question of its compatibility with the Ethos of this country.

Today, we find a dichotomy between the real ‘Truth’ and the ‘Truth as stated on Oath in a Court’. A litigant gets away with this in the present system. If the system is made inquisitory and the burden is on the authority to find the truth, truth will come out and the battle between assertions and denials ends. The old Nyaya Panchayat system needs to be revived and supported. For the purpose, an inquiry of the system that was in vogue in ancient-India is useful.

>>>>Lay's Delays <<<<

The backlog of lakhs of cases in all categories of courts is the most damning evidence of the inadequacy of the apparatus. Urgent resolution of the problems pertaining to all the factors must be sought within a time frame.

• The number of judges reflects no reasonable equation with the growing population and litigation. Adequate funds, infrastructure and political will are necessary to provide for additional law courts and judges to match the pending and future litigation. The conditions of service should be such as would attract talent and ensure integrity. Training / workshop may help even the High Court judges.
• The lawyers have a significant role. Their training in law as well as professional ethic is thoroughly inadequate. Law as a profession has deteriorated. Concrete steps are necessary to stem the rot and to lead a new path.
• Administration.
• Efficient Administration and organization of the docket in courts would be able to avoid thoroughly unnecessary procedural delay. A little imagination and a pragmatic (as against the dogmatic) approach can lessen the burden on courts and litigants.
• The procedure is termed as the ‘handmaid’ but in practice it rules. Drastic changes in the procedures to be followed in courts are urgently warranted. Every case must reach a time bound destination. The system today has developed a vested interest in delay. If necessary it should be dismantled without remorse.
• Justice delivery system, particularly in criminal court needs complete review. The present system punishes the innocent and permits the criminal to go unpunished. Drastic changes in procedure are necessary.

>>>>Laws<<<<

The statute book is burdened with a plethora of legislation which on occasions tends to be ad-hoc and hence useless in the long run. The unburdening process should start forthwith. The Law Commission has already recommended the repeal of a few hundred enactments and the process in that direction has already begun.

It is necessary to consolidate the laws governing same areas and situations to avoid dismay to the citizen who fails to recognize the scores of requirement he has to fulfill under an equal number of laws.

It is equally necessary to abandon the present clumsy drafting style and to adopt a style which is clear, lucid and unambiguous. The complex and compound phraseology must be abandoned. The ‘whereas’ and ‘notwithstanding’ and ‘as the case may be’ syndrome of conjunctions should give way to simple phrases, small sentences and intelligible expression.

Consolidation and simplification of the laws and public education in the same is a task which the governments ought to undertake urgently. With the present language, the law is thoroughly unintelligible to the common man, even if it is sought to be rendered in his own or other tongue. Some times the rendering in the Bhartiya languages is more unintelligible than it is in English.

>>>>Independence and accountability of judiciary<<<<

Our constitutional framework envisages an independent judicial system, insulated from partisan political influences. However with the general degeneration in the society, on occasions, people find that judgments are given for reasons extraneous to the cause. It is always said that a judge has jurisdiction to decide a case in a manner which is shown to be wrong in appeal. However when such a wrong decision is given consciously for extraneous reasons and judge gets away with it, the insulation of the judiciary hurts.

The Supreme Court in a series of decisions has done everything to ensure the independence even of the subordinate judiciary. Steps from within the system are necessary to ensure accountability.

A National Judicial Commission may provide machinery, which will ensure both the independence and accountability of the judiciary at the higher levels. The issue needs to be debated dispassionately to arrive at a consensus either way.

>>>>Conclusion<<<<

While addressing ourselves to the daunting challenge of judicial reforms, if effective steps are taken in respect of the areas indicated above, a firm, positive and dynamic step in the right direction will be taken. This will be harbinger of change.

In the present age of Information Technology, the efficiency of the justice delivery system can increase manifold. Electronic connectivity is achievable even within the means available today, if initiative and imagination is at work.

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