Judicial Backlog Must Be Cleared

Senior advocate Vikas Singh has had a glorious practice of around 30 years in the Supreme Court.

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He was designated as a senior advocate in the year 2004. Thereafter, he served as the Additional Solicitor General, Government of India, from 2005 to 2008. He is also the former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

In an interaction with PARMOD KUMAR of THE STATESMAN, Singh gets candid about the collegium system, huge pendency of cases in Indian courts, and the greater role of the apex court to interpret law.

Q: Given your vast experience in judicial functioning, how do you see the state of judiciary in the country today?

A: The state of judiciary is certainly better under the present Chief Justice of India than it was under the erstwhile CJI. However, much remains to be done to restore people's faith in this institution, which has been eroded over the past several years.

So, the first change is that CJI Sanjiv Khanna wants to tackle the pendency in a non-discriminatory way—without looking for matters giving him any publicity.

I think that is a very welcome change because in the institution in the erstwhile Chief Justice's tenure, everybody felt that he would only be interested in taking up matters which either are internationally or nationally making news, and not the regular dispensation of justice.

Q: There are over 5.5 crore cases pending before different courts leading to the perception that these would not be decided in one's lifetime or at least by 2047 when India would be celebrating 100 years of its independence. Your comment?

A: The pendency of cases cannot be resolved unless urgent steps are taken to first upgrade the infrastructure for dispensing justice, ensure all vacancies at all levels of the judiciary are filled expeditiously, and if this is done on a war footing, we can expect some improvement in the disposal of pending cases.