Delays in justice delivery can and should be rooted out

livemint.com:

Delays in justice deliver are among the biggest barriers in India to making it easier to do business and improving people’s ease of living. In a recent response, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal informed Parliament that more than 50 million cases are pending in various courts across India, of which nearly 90% are in district and subordinate courts. This backlog not only burdens the judicial system, but also denies timely justice to millions of citizens, and the cost of it is borne not just by the economy, but by all of us.

What the minister didn’t say was that another 50 million cases are pending in our tribunals, revenue boards, consumer courts, information commissions, etc. There are several reasons for this dismal state of affairs. Let us analyse what the government and judiciary must do to salvage the situation.

In a majority of the cases, governments, both the Union and of states, are the main litigant. Fortunately, the Union minister has announced that a draft National Litigation Policy is to be formally adopted that will endeavour to bind all government parties to reduce litigation. A few states already have litigation policies, while Karnataka has a litigation law in place.

Governments can and should ensure the availability of adequate infrastructure and staff, including running courts and tribunals with minimal breaks on a shift system, for the disposal of pending cases before they pile up any further. Governments should also support and establish alternate dispute settlement systems in association with the judiciary and quasi-judicial bodies, such as conciliation mechanisms, lok adalats, grameen nyayalays, etc, to reduce the burden on Indian courts and tribunals. This should be accompanied by disincentives