While the echoes of the 2G spectrum scam and Coalgate are dying down in the Supreme Court, more challenges have loomed before it by the end of the year. Implementation of its decade-old orders in environmental issues has suddenly become imperative as Delhi has touched alarming levels of vehicular pollution. Meanwhile, the judiciary itself is undergoing a critical phase, with a new system being installed to recruit judges. The new chief justice has just started his one-year term, with some 60,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court and 30 million in all the courts in the country - the oldest being one in the Jharkhand High Court reportedly pending for 57 years.
Some of the issues taken up by the Supreme Court, like the case of black money stashed abroad, have defied solution. Its panel of retired judges has not been able to even scratch the problem. There was moderate success in the field of other stinkers like the Saradha chit fund scam in eastern India, which the court monitored. When the court took up the Vyapam recruitment scam of Madhya Pradesh, the judges expressed surprise that the series of mysterious deaths had come to a stop.
Despite such a dismal picture the judiciary has won the confidence of the public. It has put fear into the minds of corrupt politicians. The array of leaders and business persons who approached the Supreme Court seeking various reliefs this year is impressive. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh approached it for exemption from personal appearance in the Coalgate probe. Some other heavyweights who sought relief are Dayanidhi Maran, Kanimozhi, Virbhadra Singh, Kumaramangalam Birla, the Ansals, Bharti Mittal and the Ruias. The 22-month stay of Sahara boss Subrata Roy, along with two directors of the group, in Tihar jail with no light at the end of the tunnel defies understanding. Luck ran out for N Srinivasan after the Supreme Court set up judicial commissions to probe sleaze in cricket.
The Supreme Court delivered some significant judgements in the year that is passing by. By striking down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, it has become impossible to harass those who are on social media exercising their right to freedom of expression. The National Law Tribunal and its appellate body can start functioning after incorporating the changes suggested by the court. Another contentious issue, the validity of Aadhaar identity card, has been partly eased with a detailed order.
There is a goldmine of issues for Right to Information (RTI) activists in the recent judgement, which allowed RTI queries into non-performing assets and corruption in the banking sector. The most criticised judgement of the year was the upholding of the Haryana law, which set educational qualifications for panchayat election candidates and even insisted on toilet facility in their houses among the eligibility criteria.
The problems of the judiciary that were creeping up for decades are still on its destructive path with new mutants. If the chief justice and the legal community could persuade the government to raise the budgetary allocation for the judiciary from the miserable 0.2 per cent to a decent level in the next Budget it could make a positive turn in terms of staff and infrastructure. Non-utilisation of whatever is given is another problem, as it is reported that 80 per cent of funds have remained unspent and caught in red tape and inertia at the central and state levels. The judge-population ratio has remained 13 for every one million as against 35 to 40 in other developing countries. More than 40 per cent of the posts of high court judges are vacant at the moment. Computerisation is lagging far behind and there are mountains of paper not only in the corridors of the courts but even on the podiums of judges.
Some of the major problems can be sorted out by the legal fraternity itself. The judges can deny adjournments except for adequate reasons, limit time for arguments by drawing up a schedule, regulate reading of case law for hours and deliver judgements soon after closing of arguments (now it takes months). The court could invite an agency to study the case flow and pathology that might suggest solutions. Unlike law-making in Parliament, there are no disruptive elements in judicial work. The top legal brains who get 175 holidays a year have plenty of time to devise and launch reforms before the sky falls.
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