NEW
ROAD TO SPEEDY JUSTICE
On 28th January 2000 the Hon’ble Supreme of
India was celebrating its golden jubilee since independence.
His Excellency Shri K.R.Narayan, former President
of India fired a salvo by observing that “Courts
are no more cathedrals, they are casinos where the
throw of the dice matters”. These terse comments
upon the performance of Indian judiciary compelled
both the legislature and the judiciary to have in-depth
introspection about the deficiencies in our legal
system.
Indian laws are also characterized as obsolete, out-dated,
primitive and non-functional. It is not because the
laws were fundamentally defective, but the prime
reason for rejection of some century old laws is
that they do not match with the fast changing social
scenario. However, some of the new enactments will
certainly dispel the lurking fear-psychosis that
the existing laws will fail to maintain the rule
of law, to protect the rights and privileges of its
citizens, more particularly of down-trodden who cannot
afford long-drawn litigation.
India is a vast country with more than one hundred
crore population. Hence rate of crime and Court litigations
are also high. Till recently more than two crore
cases were awaiting disposal in different courts
of the country. This over-crowding in the docket
is due to several factors, like inadequate judge-population
ratio, poor infrastructure, slow investigation of
criminal cases, cumbersome litigation procedure etc.
Presently, judges’ ratio in our country is
less than 13 per million population, whereas it is
41.6 in Australia; 50.9 in England; 75.2 in Canada
and 107 in United States. In the case of All India
Judges’ Association v. Union of India, reiterated
in the case of Brij Mohan Lal v. Union of India,
the Hon’ble Supreme Court has directed the
Govt. to at least increase the judges ratio to 50
per million in the next year at the first instance.
In deference to the above directions and also acknowledging
the poor strength of judges the Govt. has already
initiated the process in this regard. Simultaneously,
the Govt. has also taken-up the project of computerization
of the judiciary up to district level. The Supreme
Court has already made a giant leap in the field
of hi-tech judiciary by introducing the system of
filing cases through electronic media. now the judgments,
cause list and other information of cases in the
Apex Court are available on internet. Once the computerization
up to district level is complete the pace of justice
will accelerate further.
The Govt. has also taken serious note of all
the bottlenecks and loopholes in the existing
laws so
that the citizens of the country, irrespective
of their litigation capacity can get cheap,
effective
and speedy justice. Although the process in this
regard can be linked to the enactment of the legal
Services Authority Act, 1987 ( L.S.A.Act), the
recent amendment of the above law ( vide Amendment
Act No.
37 of 2002) can be said to be the golden gift to
the Indian judiciary. While adopting the concept
of alternative disputes redressal (ADR) the Govt.
enacted the L. S. A. Act in the 1987, which was
considered to be the supplement legislation
of Civil Procedure
Code and Criminal Procedure Code. However, the
2002 amendment will the L. S. A. Act as a supplant
to
the parent civil law.
Section 22C (7) of the newly enacted Chapter
VI-A in L.S.A. Act authorizes Permanent Lok
Adalats
(PLA) to formulate the terms of possible settlement
and
pass Award if both the parties agree to the terms.
This provision is fully in consonance and spirit
of deciding disputes by way of conciliation.
However in sub-section (8) the PLA has authorized
to pass
the judgment and decide the disputes even if
the parties fail to reach an agreement. Vesting
of
such arbitrary power with a quasi-judicial body
many not
stand the judicial scrutiny if its legality is
challenged in the long run. It would have been
proper to put
certain caps while authorizing PLAs to pass verdict
despite disagreement between the parties. Summary
revision power to any higher authority would
have been proper . Despite all these shortcomings
the
introduction of Chapter VIA in the L.S.A.Act
is a laudable step. It is hoped that both the
central
and state authorities would constitute PLAs in
their
jurisdiction without any delay.
The amendment of L.S.A.Act has opened a single
window independent judicial redressal forum
by introducing
Chapter VIA. Amendment of L.S.A.Act,1987, is
not the solitary revolutionary step in the
field of
justice delivery system. Almost at the same
time the century
old Code of Cibil Procedure,1908 has also been
given a thorough dressing by bringing Amendment
Act of
1999 and 2002. The new amendments are striking
at the root of delay in disposal of civil suits.
Judicial
Courts have been permitted to use electronic
media for service of process, time limit has
been fixed
for submitting reply, receiving evidence through
affidavit and tightening the procedure for
amendment of pleadings are few noticeable changes
in the
law. These amendments have come into existence
w.e.f.
1-7-2002 and people will see the good result
in near future.
( Taken from article
of Justice B.D.Agarwal published in AIR Jan2003)
Advocate Mrs. Neelima Mysore
‘Titiksha’, 1127, Shivajinagar
Pune 411 016.
Phone: 020-5655312.
