Scales not in balance

The justification for having a day devoted to any particular section of people or any issue "" children, teachers, environment, etc "" is to focus attention on the special needs of that section or what needs to be done on that issue. On the occasion of Law Day, therefore, the problem that needs the maximum attention is the steady increase in the pendency of cases in the country's courts, and the fact that it has reached unacceptable proportions. In just the last quarter, the number of cases in the district and subordinate courts rose by 130,000 to touch a whopping 25 million, by 33,000 to touch 3.7 million in the 21 high courts, and by 1,239 to touch 44,819 in the Supreme Court. Based on the current bench strength, what the numbers mean is that each judge in the lower courts has to clear 2,021 cases. The figure works out to 6,313 for each judge in a high court, and 1,792 for each judge in the Supreme Court. In other words, even if the judges were to work 24x7, it would take years for them to clear the backlog, even if you make the unrealistic assumption that no new cases get added during this period. This is tantamount to the virtual denial of justice to most litigants, and the fact that this is not a new problem does not make it any less serious.

What is distressing is that, although everyone is aware of the gravity of the situation, there isn't enough of a reformist impulse within the legal system. Most courts are not strict enough with lawyers and agree to requests for new dates with alacrity; cases are rarely heard on a day to day basis, as a result. In any case, far too much time is taken up with listening to arguments when lawyers could be asked to state their case in writing and oral arguments restricted to highlighting the key points. So it is hard to argue that the judges themselves bear no responsibility for some of the delays. However, on Law Day at least, spare a thought for the judiciary and the conditions under which it functions "" and the problem goes beyond the physical infrastructure in the mostly dingy courts at the district and subordinate levels.

The 120th report of the Law Commission said that the country needs to have 50 judges for every million people, whereas the current sanctioned strength is barely a fifth this. It's hard to think of any example where capacity is a fifth of demand, without there also being huge shortages in supply. If that weren't bad enough, there are massive numbers of vacancies in even these sanctioned posts. At the district and subordinate courts, where the sanctioned strength of judges is 15,399, there are no fewer than 3,031 vacancies! In the high courts, there are 206 vacancies in a sanctioned strength of 792. It is only in the Supreme Court where 25 of the 26 seats have been filled up, in part because three judges have just been added.

There is little point talking about vacancies without addressing the related issue of pay "" at current salaries, it's hardly surprising that many of the better legal brains don't want to become judges. Until this issue is resolved, even if the government were to speed up the process of appointing judges, only one part of the problem would have been tackled. Lastly, there should be a quick and easily accessible system for dealing with any complaints about corruption in the legal system.