The (in)efficiency of our high courts..

The cases delay often owing to delaying tactics of advocates. When their case is weak, they would seek more adjournments on one or the other pretexts.  Secondly, the number of cases is excessive. The judicial process also suffers from red tape and lethargy. It is necessary to make the procedure simpler, adjournments as few as possible. One way is to hear fewer cases per day so that the cases taken up are finalized early. Actually, a very large number of of cases are taken each day so that any case is not finalized soon. 

Though the Law Minister Sadananda Gowda, written to all Chief Justices of HCs for compiling an Annual report about the performances of their respective courts, pendency of cases,disposal rates etc, and keep them on their Web sites, for the public scrutiny, most of the HCs barring  the HCs of Delhi, Himachal, J and K, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madras and Tripura did not respond,  This is pathetic condition prevailing in the Judicial system. I sincerely feel that Judiciary system has to be revamped in order to reduce delays in the Judiciary.

I am told that there is a time limit for cases in high courts , which is 18 months. But this rule is hardly followed by the large majority of the people involved. It is not just the judges or advocates but people involved  themselves who often delay the cases. This added with the court holidays and study tour of the lawyers and judges makes the matter worse !

What we have today is not only inordinate delay but quality of justice is suspect! I don't know who is going to extricate the system from the appalling mess in which it finds itself. Corruption of a cancerous kind is threatening its very existence. Money too is playing an ominously important part throwing off the vulnerable section in need of justice from its precincts.It looks like irredeemably lost. Who wIll judge the judges!!

True...some type of cases such as the ones to related to land disputes go on and on and on for years, ultimately destroying all parties involved. Judicial system all over is so slow and painful that after a point, people ultimately lose all faith in justice. Another point I do not understand is that if they are so tied up with cases and so on, why do courts close in the summer for a long duration like a school vacation.? If justice system is meant to serve people and mete out justice, why it is made inaccessible for major part of the year?

The justice system in India is a sham as far as timely resolution of cases is concerned. There are many cases which have been heard a couple of times and then they do not come up for hearing again for years allegedly because one party has succeeded  in stalling it. Poor people and middle class people avoid going to courts and if they have to are stuck in it for years. Closing for summer is a colonial legacy when British judges would find Indian summers too hot and would retire to cooler places or England. Time to give it a bye.

Courts are closed twice a year during summer and again during October/November and there are innumerable study tors for the judges which further delays the proceedings and of course transfers . For a Judge to leave and another to come and take his or her place takes almost a month and in the mean time all the cases are kept pending..

The Indian judiciary has its own axe to grind in perpetuating their hegemony and making a distinction between rich and poor. Look at the judgements and one will see that the honourable judges are not above board in framing questionable judgements. Two example stand out where clear cut cases were dismissed like the corruption case against Jayalalitha and the killing by Salman Khan. Who knows even Peter Mukherjee and Indrani may in the end be let off , like the supreme court going out of its way to try and set aside the death sentence of Nirbhaya killers. Alas where is India heading? a spell of martial law may be a requirement.

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

True...some type of cases such as the ones to related to land disputes go on and on and on for years, ultimately destroying all parties involved. Judicial system all over is so slow and painful that after a point, people ultimately lose all faith in justice. Another point I do not understand is that if they are so tied up with cases and so on, why do courts close in the summer for a long duration like a school vacation.? If justice system is meant to serve people and mete out justice, why it is made inaccessible for major part of the year?

On a number of my visits to USA, I have seen the courts NEVER close there. Special courts even sit on Sundays

There are special vacation courts here too that function on week days but with limited capacity and more often than not, you find that either the judge is late or not there or one of the office bearers who manages the files is absent ..

MG Singh wrote:

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

True...some type of cases such as the ones to related to land disputes go on and on and on for years, ultimately destroying all parties involved. Judicial system all over is so slow and painful that after a point, people ultimately lose all faith in justice. Another point I do not understand is that if they are so tied up with cases and so on, why do courts close in the summer for a long duration like a school vacation.? If justice system is meant to serve people and mete out justice, why it is made inaccessible for major part of the year?

On a number of my visits to USA, I have seen the courts NEVER close there. Special courts even sit on Sundays

We are still following the policies and ways as laid down by the British and more than 65 years of independence, we still have not recognised that those methods are irrelevant and not  suited for our needs, even if the concerned may have understood that, they are unwilling to change, as it will mean hard work for them all. Who cares about the needs of the common man, justice is for the privileged!

Judicial  System in India has not been able to meet even the modest expectations of the Society. If one sees inordinate delays and the costs, they are bound to lead to frustration. All these factors made the people lose faith on the Judicial system. I believe, the courts are existing for Judges and Lawyers, not for the people. Judiciary system needs urgently a thorough overhauling.

We are still following the policies and ways as laid down by the British and more than 65 years of independence, we still have not recognised that those methods are irrelevant and not  suited for our needs, even if the concerned may have understood that, they are unwilling to change, as it will mean hard work for them all. Who cares about the needs of the common man, justice is for the privileged!

It really does not make sense to hold on to something that does not work for us, our system or our country. If all the leaders put their mind to it, they can bring in a better system and clear up the unnecessary red tapism that has become part of the legal system.

Quick delivery of justice, availability of Judicial services even to the lowest strata of the society is the need of the hour. Without them, Judiciary  and law arei useless.

When NDA was in power , Arun Jaitley was the law minister and he had come up with many solutions to speed up the judicial process since civil cases were often taking two decades to reach their conclusion. To a certain extent he did succeed also brought in family court to solve domestic issues like divorce , maintenance during separation and domestic violence. This made sure that a good number of cases were shifted to family court and only the civil and criminal cases remained with the sessions court. So, there has been improvement and cases don't take that long now. Another unique feature that we have in India is property cases , often are very different depending on different regions also different castes and communities.

You are not writing on facts. Cases take more time than before to be resolved. There is no sense of urgency in our judicial system. Adjournments are granted at the drop of a hat. 

I'm not aware of other types of courts. But I had seen How the Family Courts are functioning. A friend of mine who was working as a teacher in a nearby city  was charged with Domestic violence by his wife, just after 6 months of his marriage, which I attended and I know well about him and his  family.Whenever. Whenever  he is summoned by the court, he used to come and stay with me only to know that the case has been adjourned. Because the Court clerk who records the proceedings had gone on leave to attend a family function.  Because there was no extra clerk to record the proceedings., the case has been adjourned.

In this regard,I would say that one of the reasons for poor functioning of the Courts is,Courts are short staffed. It goes without saying, such reasons are the reason for adjournments and piling up of the cases enormously.

I write from my own personal experience. My ancestral family was involved in a property litigation, the case being filed in 1974 and it finally reached Supreme court in 2006 and was settled. Cases in family court have a stipulated time period of 2 and a half years , and even if it takes a little longer Divorce cases do not go on for decades like before.  Civil cases take much longer but normally from what I have seen, are moving faster inspite of the adjournments and court vacations. We have a case going n since 2011 and with all the delays and adjournments it has reached the final stages , which would never happen before.

There is a shortage of judges and there are far too many cases no doubt but with computerisation things are moving faster now. Unlike earlier when you had to wait for days together to get an RTC or encumberance certificate , now you can get it immediately ..

I have no dispute with your experience but wish situation were half as true as you are trying to make us believe. Courts need to be made much more efficient in their working irrespective of who is in power.

I am not saying courts are efficient, they are not...But they are certainly better functioning now than before. May be they have become more corrupt, that I wouldn't know. But the efficiency has increased inspite of shortage of staff. there is a severe shortage of judges and the recent case that we have is ready for judgment since 6 months. But the judge has no time to sit and go through the entire paper work before giving his verdict, which runs to few hundred pages , so he is putting it off.In such a situation one can only blame the government for not providing enough staff, this is true of all states.. There are far too many cases being filed and not enough staff.