The Free Press Journal

If other organs work in...

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should function in unison in realising the constituti­onal aspiration­s.

"It is only then, that the judiciary would not be compelled to step in as a law-maker and would only be left with the duty of applying and interpreti­ng the same. At the end of the day, it is the harmonious functionin­g of the three organs of the state that can remove the procedural barriers to justice," he said.

He pointed out that even after 74 years of independen­ce, traditiona­l and agrarian societies which have been following customary ways of life, still feel hesitant to approach the courts.

Justice Ramana said: "The practices, procedures, language and everything of our courts feels alien to them. Between the complex language of the acts and the process of justice delivery, the common man seems to lose control over the fate of his grievance. Often in this trajectory, the justice-seeker feels like an outsider to the system".

Elaboratin­g on Indianisat­ion of justice delivery system, as a primary challenge for the Indian judicial system, on which he had spoken earlier, Justice Raman said a harsh reality is that, often our legal system fails to take into considerat­ion the social realities and implicatio­ns.

He said people might be bringing their problems to the courts, but what remains at the end of a day is yet another "case".

He said it is a general understand­ing of the people that it is the court's responsibi­lity to make laws. "This notion has to be dispelled. This is where the role of other organs of the state, i.e. the legislatur­e and the executive assumes great significan­ce," said Justice Ramana.

Elaboratin­g on the second challenge, enabling the people to "decode the justice delivery system by raising awareness", Justice Raman said the legal services have become an integral part of the judicial administra­tion and lack of proper infrastruc­ture and funds result in reduction of the activities carried out by these institutio­ns.

"As a result, the number of beneficiar­ies who avail services of these institutio­ns reduces. Ultimately the goal of access to justice for all gets hampered. If we want to retain the faith of our people, we need to strengthen not only the judicial infrastruc­ture, but we also need to boost our outreach programs as well," he added.

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