THE UNSEEN CRISIS OF SUPREME COURT AND OTHER COURTS OF INDIA

admin | July 16, 2020 | Constitutional | No Comments

THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY SRABANA DUTTA, A STUDENT OF AMITY UNIVERSITY, KOLKATA

INTRODUCTION

The highest judicial forum and court of appeal being the Supreme Court of India is going through several unseen problems since a very long time now. These problems should be taken care of as soon as possible otherwise the functioning of the Supreme Court will be hampered. The Supreme Court has innumerable pending cases which have not got its judgment till date. This is creating a backlog and is resulting in delayed judgments in the Supreme Court. The problem of inadequate judges is barring the court from giving speedy justice and disposal of cases. Looking for an appellate lawyer visit Brownstone Appellate Law Firm

There are certain drawbacks even in the functioning of the courts. This project will talk about those unseen crises in the apex court and other courts in India.

DOCKET EXPLOSION:-

The problem of docket explosion has created a lot of trouble in the Supreme Court. From the reasonable expected time for a case to be disposed of and the excess time the courts take to deliver a judgment is known as the docket explosion. It can be caused by-

Complications in the legal system
Lot of burden on the judiciary
Innumerable pending suits
Inadequate number of judicial strength

Overcrowding of docket has resulted in delay in the dispensing of justice. It has resulted in erosion of public trust and has also hampered the confidence in the justice delivery system.

Lok Adalat can help in freeing up the pending cases with speedy justice. It does not require any court fee which and hence it is an advantage on the part of the parties. The parties who are represented by the advocate can interact with the judge and explain their problem. The parties can directly bring the disputes in front of the Lok Adalat. As it is a case of mutual settlement in the case of Lok Adalat, there is no case of appeal that can arise.

The Supreme Court at first consisted of a Chief Justice and a maximum number of seven other justices. It was also stated in the Constitution that the number of judges can also be increased by any Parliamentary enactment. Now this number has increased significantly over the past years. In 2009, it was increased to 30, in addition to Chief Justice of India. The over expanding struggle with the Supreme Court docket is possibly the most visible mark of transformation for the betterment.

People are filing cases of the same matter with different docket numbers in different courts. This is resulting in more cases than the actual ones. This is because a case is pending in a certain court for a long period and is resulting in the frustration of people. As a result they go to other courts with the same matter for justice.

PENDING OF CASES:-

There are almost three crore cases which are pending in the different courts of India. Currently there are 58,519 cases which are pending in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has 37,385 cases which are pending for more than one year. Excluding the connected cases, there are approximately 38,892 pending cases. There are more than forty two lakhs cases which are pending in the High Courts of the states. More than 2.7 crore cases are pending in the District and Sub-ordinate cases. Day by day the number of pending cases is increasing. There are cases which are pending from a very long time and have mot even had the first hearing date. This is amounting to a lot of work on the judiciary. The parties are eagerly waiting for their cases to get the final judgment but the lack of speed, inefficiency is resulting in the delay.

CORRUPTION:-

Former Presidents Pratibha Patil and A.P.J Abdul Kalam have criticised the judiciary for the failure in handling its duties. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also stated that corruption is one of the major challenges which is faced by the judiciary. This needs an urgent eradication.

There is corruption in every sphere of the judiciary. The smaller courts also indulge themselves in corruption and bribery. There are cases which are won by money and as a result the victims were given injustice. In many rape cases the victims are asked to take back their cases as the accusers are ready to offer money to the victim. The accusers take the advantage of the poor financial condition of the victims. They get free from the judiciary by only offering lump sum money.

There was a case pertaining to the arrest of retired Orissa High Court Justice IM Quddusi. The CBI had registered an FIR as the criminal conspiracy was hatched by several people that also included retired judge Quddusi and the officers of the Prasad Education Trust. The Medical Council of India (MCI) cited various deficiencies and rejected the recognition of a medical college which was run by this education trust. So the parties were influencing and bribing the High Court and Supreme Court judges to secure favourable orders in their case.

ROSTER SYSTEM:-

The Roster System has started from 5^th February, 2018. This has been done for the allocation of various matters to the judges. Under this Roster System the CJI will hear SLPs that is special leave petitions, and would also hear matters relating to criminal matters, arbitration, social justice etc and this form a very big chunk of important matters which are heard by the apex court. This has become one of the issues which has forced the Supreme Court judges to publicly question the leadership of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra. On 12 January, justices J. Chelameswar, Kurian Joseph, Ranjan Gogoi and Madan B. Lokur alleged that the CJI did not follow the established precedents in allocation of cases among judges. They went public by putting their grievances at a press conference at the residence of justice Chelameswar.

INADEQUATE NUMBER OF JUDGES:-

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India has pointed out that India needs seventy thousand more judges, as there are a bunch of pending cases.

The scenario of the Supreme Court is still better than that of the other state High Courts. Sates like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, and Meghalaya are in the worst conditions. These states need recruitment of new judges. There are inadequate judges which are increasing the work pressure and are acting as the burden on the head of the other working judges. This is affecting the quality of work. There is no fast disposal of cases

“Justice delayed is justice denied” and so there should be recruitment of judges in all the courts which would help in speedy disposal of cases.

There are cases lying in the Supreme Court which have not had its first hearing since the last five years. Slowly, it is getting added to the existing work load.

CELEBRITIES GETTING DIFFERENT TREATMENT:-

Popularity brings a lot of opportunities. Even in the courts the celebrities get the special treatment. Their money speaks for themselves. Even after being guilty, they get saved by a narrow escape. They get the opportunity to hire the most expensive lawyers and win the case through bribery.

Salman Khan and Another v State of Rajasthan-

Salman Khan who is a popular Bollywood actor, while shooting for the famous movie “Hum saath saath hai” shot and killed two blackbucks in the year 1998.

These two rare antelopes were hunted in forests near Jodhpur. This case was there in the court for twenty long years after which he was released on bail.

Salman Salim Khan v State of Maharashtra-

In the Salman Khan’s Hit and Run case, he was arrested for driving rashly and negligently into a small bakery in Bombay. Three people were injured and one died in the whole scenario. They all were sleeping on the pavement. He was charged for culpable homicide.

The Bombay Sessions Court said that he was drunk while driving and that has resulted in this accident. He was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment. But he also got the bail on the very same day. The Supreme Court admitted a plea by the government of Maharashtra which challenged the acquittal of him in the Hit and Run case by Bombay High Court. The Court also refused to fast track this case.

APPOINTMENT OF JUDICIARY:-

WHO ALL ARE ELIGIBLE TO BECOME A JUDGE OF THE SUPREME COURT:-

Article 124(3) of the Constitution says only the following people can become the judge of the Supreme Court-

A High Court judge who has been holding the post for five years or more than that, example- Our current CJI, Dipak Misra.
If an advocate has practiced in a High Court or in the Supreme Court for ten or more years then he or she is eligible to become a judge of the Supreme Court.
A distinguished jurist like a scholar is also eligible to become a Supreme Court judge.

After the Collegium had made its recommendation, it is sent to the President. The President can accept or reject this recommendation for once. If it is rejected for the first time, then it goes back to the Collegium for the reconsideration. But this time if there is no change then the President has to accept this recommendation when it comes to him. The President almost has no power in the appointment of judges.

These appointments can be done by influencing the Collegium and bribing them with cash or kind. It acts as a drawback of the Supreme Court.

CONCLUSION:-

Every institution has its own advantages and disadvantages. Being a responsible citizen of our country it is our duty to bring the attention of the government in matters which act as a drawback of such institutions. It is our responsibility to work for the betterment of the country. The good should become better and then best. The portions in which we are lagging behind should be worked upon. The inadequate number of judges, pending cases for a very long time increases the workload. The whole system becomes very inefficient and restrained. For the development of the courts more and more judges should be appointed which would dispose of the cases faster. India’s one of the biggest problems is corruption. If the judges, advocates work hand in hand with free mind then the day is not far away when India will be truly democratic.