Time and again, the issue of huge pendency of cases for decades in Indian courts of justice has been written about. Justice delayed is not only justice denied; it causes great harassment to the innocent and economically weak. Rich and resourceful use the judicial process to wound and paralyze their adversaries. Governments also involve their political opponents in criminal litigation to defame and keep them engaged and that too at public cost.
In this context, recently the engagement of the Supreme Court by the plea of a former trade union leader from Kerala for fixing an ‘expiry date’ for the legal proceedings needs serious attention of all those who hold the Constitution of India supreme and dogmas secondary. In this particular case, the FIR is alive for past 24 years without filing a charge-sheet and therefore has caused a breach of his fundamental rights. His advocate, Wills Mathews, elegantly summed up the crux of the matter as follows: “The need for an expiry date for the legal proceedings and legal audit of each and every court case is a must to strengthen the rule of law and to clean the overcrowded judicial system failing which it can have disastrous consequences, leading towards anarchy in various forms.”
The truth is that systems in all spheres of administration, including justice, have become so rotten over decades that no cure is possible except a speedy weeding out of the rotten eggs and apples whose number is increasing in a geometric progression, lest one day our boat of democracy may all of a sudden sink without any scope to salvage it and our ancient feudal culture of Rajas and Maharajas may openly resurface to the detriment of the common man. However, such a cleansing of the prevailing systems is impossible in the present form of our government unless our Constitution is amended.
It is tragic that delayed justice is generally attributed to the judiciary for slow disposal of the cases. There are many forceful vested interests to keep it fettered. On one hand, it always remains understaffed at all tiers and ill-equipped without modern technological facilities. Even sanctioned posts which are basically low in proportion to our population vis-à-vis the advanced countries remain vacant for long durations. On the other hand, indirect and corrupt methods are followed to groom and demoralize the judiciary to make them loyal and faithful to those in power and their cronies. Merit becomes a casualty. All those in public life, including advocates, who judge any performance mainly on the basis of the capacity to do blah-blah, have no realization as to how much onerous is the job of judges. The losing party in the litigation do their utmost to find holes in the court judgments and get them overturned in appeals.
Judiciary provides justice on the basis of whatever is placed before them. It is the responsibility of the investigating agencies not only to collect facts but rather to collect evidence to prove the facts. Our investigating agencies whether NIA, CBI, Anti Corruption Bureaus or local police are neither independent in their functioning, nor professionally trained. They are used just as agents and His Master’s Voice to toe the line of the governments. Police is patronized by the governments more for their brawns than brains. Stooges are selected, appointed and posted as per the whims and fancies and convenience of the political bosses instead of the requirements of the times and circumstances. Their meritorious performance is judged only as per their achievements in furtherance of the political agenda of the party in power and are accordingly persecuted or rewarded. No wonder, they are totally demoralized with few exceptions. Judiciary gets lost when the evidence placed before them by the agencies is not cohesive, hazy and full of inconsistencies.
Registered advocates of the Bar Councils are legally speaking officers of the courts and they are expected to assist the judiciary in the analysis of evidence, applicability and interpretation of law etc. However, majority of them do utmost to confuse and complicate the simplest cases to delay the proceedings and create a haze so as to seek appeals. Lingering of the litigation is their bread and butter. In a recent observation, the Supreme Court had no alternative except to direct all the Bar Councils to re-verify the qualifications and credentials of the advocates on their rolls and weed out the unqualified, deadwood and really dead, from their rolls. The exercise is on.
It is a known fact that many advocates in the profession, particularly in lower courts, survive more due to their capabilities to establish connections for negotiations at all the levels. They built a reputation of conduit pipes to get favorable judgments. Sometimes the advocates of both sides are hand in glove to fool and pick the pockets of their clients. Advocates of both sides are generally in league to seek adjournments in the courts on flimsy and unwarranted grounds. There is a sizeable number who do not believe in hard work of keeping themselves updated in legal jurisprudence. Each brief has its own uniqueness and needs thorough analysis, study and preparation. They depend more on their dramatic performance in the court.
All such related issues have been examined several times. The reports of many Commissions appointed by the governments from time to time for reforms have been shelved because any reforms go against the vested interests, who are united and have an invisible strong lobby. It is high-time that apex court gets seized of all the existing negativities in the system and straightaway fixes expiry days for each and every stage with a clause for valid exceptions. This remedy will prevent the derailment of justice and the daily tyranny for the common layman.
(The writer is retired from Goa Civil Service.)
