Nitin Desai, in “Ill fares the land” (16 December) has made many valuable points, but missed out the single biggest factor that comforts scoundrels: the delay built into the Indian judiciary.
Indian courts invariably have a number of judicial vacancies, leading to costly facilities being unutilised, when there cannot be any acceptable reason for a vacancy at all. The incoming judge should assume duties the following day after a judge retires, since the retirement date of judges is known well in advance.
Having vacancy-free courts costs nothing. It only requires realising the loss owing to delayed appointments at the highest levels in the country and some planning, coordination and mutual cooperation.
Eliminating factors causing delays not only involves money and managerial effort, it requires planning. For example, wasting the courts’ time over agitations and strikes must be avoided — it was reported that the Calcutta High Court worked for only eight days in a two-month period this year. There is also a crying need for computerisation on a single IT platform so that the judicial systems become user-friendly.
Alok Sarkar, Kolkata
