Sanjay K Singh NEW DELHI
TAKING cognisance of the inordinate delays in delivering justice
that makes people lose faith in the judiciary and take law in their
own hands, the Supreme Court has said if the trend is not arrested the
situation will go out of hand. The apex court, expressing concern on
recent lynching cases in Bihar, asked the concerned authorities to
take necessary action to rectify the volatile situation in the
country.
A bench comprising Justice A K Mathur and Justice Markandey Katju
zeroing in on the recent lynching cases reported from Bihar expressed
concern on inordinate judicial delays in delivering justice in the
country. "This is obviously because many people have started thinking
that justice will not be done in the courts due to the delays in court
proceedings. This is indeed an alarming state of affairs, and we once
again request the concerned authorities to do the needful in the
matter urgently before the situation goes totally out of control,"
said court.
The court reiterated its observation made in Rajindra Singh (dead)
& Ors vs Prem Mai &Ors, which was delivered on August 23, 2007. In
that case, the court had said because of delay in disposal of cases
people in this country were fast losing their faith in the judiciary.
"We again express our deep concern at the delay in disposing of cases
in our courts," bench said.
The court said due to delayed legal proceedings, the people are
forced to take law in their own hands. "We saw in the media news of
lynching of suspected thieves in Bihar's Vaishali district, the
gunning down of an undertrial prisoner outside Patna civil court and
other incidents where people have taken the law into their own hands,"
it said.
The bench made these strong observations while delivering a case
related to property dispute stretching for over 60 years. The apex
court asked the district judge of Kanyakumari in TN to decide it
within six months to avoid further delay in the case.
Victims of vigilante justice in Bihar.
Source : Economic Times, New Delhi
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Poor and illiterates are the worst sufferers.
We have a domestic help who live in a village about 60 kms from the district head quarter. In villages small family feuds are a common thing. A complaint was lodged against this person, his wife and mother for beating one of their relative.
Since last two years there are endless dates and on each date he has to go to the court spending about Rs.200/-. During last 6 dates on 4 dates judge was leave/ out of court and on one date strike by the lawyers was there.
Each time he has to seek fresh date and have to give money to the court functionaries to get his attendance marked and get fresh date. This has drained this personal financially in two ways. One he has to incur expenses and other he loses his daily earnings.
For getting copy of document he has to approach through his lawyer and pay fee to him. In addition he has to pay to court staff.
There is endless corruption in courts of various judges at district and sub district level. For every job - appearance, next date, copy of document one has to pay. The poor and illiterates are the worst sufferers.
In this age of information technology every villager has/ has access to mobile phone. An SMS about the absence of judge and fixing of new date may be sent. This will bring a great financial relief to the parties involved in litigation. In addition fuel and time spent on traveling and food will be saved.
If you, some body else, NGO’s have done any work in this direction, please post with details.
Since last two years there are endless dates and on each date he has to go to the court spending about Rs.200/-. During last 6 dates on 4 dates judge was leave/ out of court and on one date strike by the lawyers was there.
Each time he has to seek fresh date and have to give money to the court functionaries to get his attendance marked and get fresh date. This has drained this personal financially in two ways. One he has to incur expenses and other he loses his daily earnings.
For getting copy of document he has to approach through his lawyer and pay fee to him. In addition he has to pay to court staff.
There is endless corruption in courts of various judges at district and sub district level. For every job - appearance, next date, copy of document one has to pay. The poor and illiterates are the worst sufferers.
In this age of information technology every villager has/ has access to mobile phone. An SMS about the absence of judge and fixing of new date may be sent. This will bring a great financial relief to the parties involved in litigation. In addition fuel and time spent on traveling and food will be saved.
If you, some body else, NGO’s have done any work in this direction, please post with details.
77 p.c. believe judiciary is corrupt: survey
In 1999, it was estimated that at the current rate of disposal of cases, it would take another 350 years for the disposal of pending cases Global Corruption Report 2007
Chetan Chauhan and Satya Prakash, New Delhi
A TRANSPARENCY International report released on Thursday says that 77 per cent of respondents in a survey in India believe the judiciary is corrupt.
According to the Global Corruption Report 2007, the perception of corruption is higher in India and Pakistan in comparison to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. In Pakistan, 55 per cent of the respondents said the judiciary was corrupt.
"The degree of delays and corruption has led to cynicism about the justice system. People seek short cuts through bribery and favours, leading to more unlawful behaviour. A prime example is the unauthorized buildings in Indian cities. Construction laws are flouted in connivance with persons in authority," the report says.
Terming the report as "alarming", senior advocate K.T.S. Tulsi said: "There is obviously some corruption in the judiciary and we need to put it down with a heavy hand. The ostrich like approach will not serve the purpose anymore." Maintaining that corruption in the judiciary has grown in the last 30-40 years, he sought to know how many judges had been prosecuted and jailed. "Merely asking them to resign is not the solution. Corrupt judges must be given extreme punishment," he said.
"I am glad it is only 77 per cent of the people who believe so. Otherwise, it looks like the last bastion of people's hope is crumbling," Congress leader and senior advocate Salman Khursheed said, emphasising the need to take corrective steps.
Former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani, who questioned the survey's sample size, did not agree. "I don't think things are so bad. Compared to other segments of society, they are better. However, said added: "Judges are not angels. They are part of the same society," he said.
The BJP's spokesman Ravishankar Prasad, also another former law minister, said: "This kind of sweeping comment is neither fair nor reasonable. Yes, there are areas of concern which many former Chief Justices have espoused from time to time." He favoured an in-house mechanism to deal with the problem. However, he said the impeachment provision had outlived its utility and become counter-productive.
According to the report, as of February 2006, 33,635 cases were pending in the Supreme Court with 26 judges; 3.34 lakh cases in high courts with 670 judges; and 2.5crore cases in 13,204 sub-ordinate courts. "This vast backlog leads to long adjournments and prompts people to pay to speed up the process. In 1999, it was estimated that at the current rate of disposal of cases, it would take another 350 years for pending cases," the report states.
It also points out that the ratio of judges is abysmally low at 12-13 per one million people compared to 107 in the United States, 75 in Canada and 51 in the United Kingdom. "If the number of outstanding cases are assigned to the current number of judges, caseloads would be 1,294 per Supreme Court judge, 4,987 per high court judge and 1,916 per lower court judge."
The report recommends judicial reforms including an independent judicial appointments body, higher salaries for judges, limited impunity to actions relating to judicial duties and
Source: HT - 25-May-07
Chetan Chauhan and Satya Prakash, New Delhi
A TRANSPARENCY International report released on Thursday says that 77 per cent of respondents in a survey in India believe the judiciary is corrupt.
According to the Global Corruption Report 2007, the perception of corruption is higher in India and Pakistan in comparison to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. In Pakistan, 55 per cent of the respondents said the judiciary was corrupt.
"The degree of delays and corruption has led to cynicism about the justice system. People seek short cuts through bribery and favours, leading to more unlawful behaviour. A prime example is the unauthorized buildings in Indian cities. Construction laws are flouted in connivance with persons in authority," the report says.
Terming the report as "alarming", senior advocate K.T.S. Tulsi said: "There is obviously some corruption in the judiciary and we need to put it down with a heavy hand. The ostrich like approach will not serve the purpose anymore." Maintaining that corruption in the judiciary has grown in the last 30-40 years, he sought to know how many judges had been prosecuted and jailed. "Merely asking them to resign is not the solution. Corrupt judges must be given extreme punishment," he said.
"I am glad it is only 77 per cent of the people who believe so. Otherwise, it looks like the last bastion of people's hope is crumbling," Congress leader and senior advocate Salman Khursheed said, emphasising the need to take corrective steps.
Former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani, who questioned the survey's sample size, did not agree. "I don't think things are so bad. Compared to other segments of society, they are better. However, said added: "Judges are not angels. They are part of the same society," he said.
The BJP's spokesman Ravishankar Prasad, also another former law minister, said: "This kind of sweeping comment is neither fair nor reasonable. Yes, there are areas of concern which many former Chief Justices have espoused from time to time." He favoured an in-house mechanism to deal with the problem. However, he said the impeachment provision had outlived its utility and become counter-productive.
According to the report, as of February 2006, 33,635 cases were pending in the Supreme Court with 26 judges; 3.34 lakh cases in high courts with 670 judges; and 2.5crore cases in 13,204 sub-ordinate courts. "This vast backlog leads to long adjournments and prompts people to pay to speed up the process. In 1999, it was estimated that at the current rate of disposal of cases, it would take another 350 years for pending cases," the report states.
It also points out that the ratio of judges is abysmally low at 12-13 per one million people compared to 107 in the United States, 75 in Canada and 51 in the United Kingdom. "If the number of outstanding cases are assigned to the current number of judges, caseloads would be 1,294 per Supreme Court judge, 4,987 per high court judge and 1,916 per lower court judge."
The report recommends judicial reforms including an independent judicial appointments body, higher salaries for judges, limited impunity to actions relating to judicial duties and
Source: HT - 25-May-07
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
