India’s overburdened legal system is unable to cope

Large number of pending cases raises questions of accountability to citizens

If delayed justice spells doom, then the most pressing question ought to be why is there a delay in the first place? Some answers seem to have been provided by a recent study commissioned by the Union law ministry and conducted by the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. The findings are grim: on an average, it takes over two-and-a-half years for a litigant to get a judgment. Worse, only 41 per cent of this time involves the actual functioning of the court. The reasons unearthed for these dismal figures include, especially at the level of trial courts, the shortage and non-attendance of judges, arbitrary adjournments, the absence of lawyers and witnesses and prolonged legal arguments. None of these concerns is new. As the findings of the study indicate, none of the problems feeding this perception has been addressed.

The convoluted nature of the litigation process is another cause cited by the study for judicial delays. This inconveniences those seeking redress, given that significant sections of the litigants belong to marginalised communities with little access to education or the means to afford proper legal representation. The paucity of judges, it is believed, is a major factor in the pendency of cases. The increase in the number of judges must be accompanied by improved administrative infrastructure dedicated to curbing case-related delays. This can only be achieved with the help of judicial reform, which a democracy must undertake anyway as part of its overall development.