In a country like India where people spend a life-time waiting for a court verdict, they may soon be in for a surprise. The Law Minister Veerappa Moily is attempting to bring about Judicial reforms in the country.

He is attempting to reduce the life of Litigation from an average 15 years at present to one year and that too in just three years from now. This reform would be a miracle as courts take decades to deliver verdicts.

"This Mission Document" being prepared by his Ministry will be used as a roadmap for judicial reforms. It will be backed up with measures like setting up 5000 new courts across the country that will work in three shifts. These courts will work to eliminate backlog of 2.75 crore cases which are pending in trial courts. It will be mandatory that, from the filing of a case till its decision, not more than 6 months time should be taken. The judges can no more keep their judgement pending indefinitely. There will be a limit put on every judge to deliver his verdict.

Retired judges will be pitched in at trial courts and High Courts and get a salary of Rs. 50,000/- each per month. The additional courts will be provided with solid case management plan including clubbing identical cases. Judges will also be provided laptops in trial courts for speedy disposal of cases. If this happens, it would be a great milestone in the history of Indian judiciary. It is the Judiciary on which millions of people have their faith of getting justice.

In a democratic country like India, Judiciary plays a vital role in establishing a state of justice. Hitherto, our judicial system is sick, stagnant and in an urgent need of a complete overhaul. Delay in disposal of cases is considered as the most vexed and worrying problem. Delayed decisions, piled up files and indefinitely extending projects never serve their purpose. They are the real roadblocks in progress of any state or nation.

The proverb "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied" is proved as it is denied to the poorest of the poor. According to Mr. Justice B. P. Singh, "The situation today is so grim that if a poor is able to reach upto the stage of a High Court, it should be considered as an achievement."

There are cases that can take so much time that even a generation is too short to get any type of redressal. "When Justice is delayed - it is almost the same as there not being any justice at all. "

Jawaharlal Nehru, on the afternoon of March 19, 1955, while addressing the members of the Punjab High Court at the inauguration of its new building in Chandigarh, said, "Justice in India should be simple, speedy and cheap." He remarked that litigation was a disease and it could not be a good thing to allow any disease to spread and then go out in search of doctors.

There are about 10,000 courts in India. There are 4.04 crore cases pending in different district courts across the country. While there is backlog of 34 lacks cases in state High Courts. 1,66,77,657 criminal cases are pending before Magisterial Courts and 72,37,495 civil cases are pending in various subordinate courts. As of January 2005, the ratio of judge to population is 10.5 to one million, the lowest in the world.

The longer a case runs, the more expensive it becomes to pursue. The reputation is that court cases are meant simply to drag on endlessly and make lawyers rich, as well as justify the employment of Judges. While the scenario is likely to be similar in the entire country in matters of general category of cases, such as government service related cases, revenue cases, day to day crime cases etc.

A personality like Mr. Nani Palkhiwala opined that Justice in common parlance is considered "as blind, but in India, it is lame too and hops on crutches. It is on the verge of collapse with more than 30 million cases clogging the system".

The quoted line "Justice delayed is Justice Denied" written by William Ewart Gladstone has a perfect application in India. There are several cases where the judgement was delivered by courts after a long time.

The judicial system in India is based on evidences and facts and not on conscience or morals, so it should be easier, once hearing the facts are at hand, all it needs is argument and hearing and quicker pronouncement of justice. Due to huge pendency, the cases take years for their final disposal, which would normally take few months time. Delay leads to the loss of trust in our judicial system.

The attempts taken by Law Minister is a new beginning towards a path of success because if the Justice is done after the years of trial, then it will not seem to be Justice. Only speedy Justice could ensure effective maintenance of law & order. Quality of Justice not only promotes peace in the society but also strengthens the internal security of the country.

The 1st step towards this direction is already taken by Law Minister Veerapp Moily as he introduced "Gram Nyayalayas" which started functioning from October 2, 2009.

"Reforms in the judiciary could also make India a better investment destination. Separate commercial courts or specialized chambers in existing courts could reduce the time and cost of commercial contract enforcement," the World Bank said in a report in June.

Giorgio Del Vecchio said, "Without Justice, life would not be possible and even if it were, it would not be worth living "

If this happens without any influence of political parties and with the support of the people, our judiciary would be the best in the world. It would be superior than the American Judicial system which is considered to be the best in the world at present.

References :
1. www. legalserviceindia.com
2. www.kanglaonline.com
3. www.articlebased.com
4. The Times of India

Contributed by :
Jatinder Kaur - B.A. LL.B VII Sem.