Judicial Reforms – The Need Of The Hour

For a country like India where the number of pending cases runs into millions, courts remaining closed for long periods is not a viable option. The policy of our courts remaining closed for fixed periods every year needs to be reviewed.

- Sunil Kanoria

The judiciary of our country is highly respected across the world for its path-breaking judgments and fearlessness. But one scathing criticism against it is the glacial pace at which it functions. The judicial infrastructure is extremely inadequate to deal with the massive backlog of cases. There are around 3.93 million pending cases in the Supreme Court and the 24 High Courts and 29.7 million pending cases in the lower courts. The adage ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ sums up the state of our judiciary. Court cases often stretch for years and this encourages potential law breakers as they know that even if they do wrong, they are unlikely to get punished in the near future. Things have come to such a pass that there is a growing reluctance towards filing civil cases and people prefer settling cases out of court. This is not only detrimental in terms of mass erosion of faith in the nation’s judicial system, but it also impacts India’s appeal as a destination for foreign investment.

Judicial reforms are needed on multiple fronts. First and foremost, it is unfair to expect global levels of efficiency unless the judiciary is supported with global standards of infrastructure and remuneration. A major revamp of the court infrastructure is needed. Many court buildings have not experienced any expansion ever since they were built. Capacity addition through new buildings and renovation of existing ones can make a significant difference.