New Delhi : Chief Justice of India Y.K. Sabharwal on Tuesday called for introduction of shift system in courts so that the mounting arrears of cases can be disposed of with the existing infrastructure.

Speaking on `delayed justice' at a meeting organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association, Justice Sabharwal said: "there is growing criticism, sometimes from uninformed or ill-informed quarters about the inability of our courts to effectively deal with and wipe out the huge backlog of cases. It is a major problem being faced by Indian judicial system."

He said "the delay in the disposal of cases has affected not only the ordinary type of cases but also those which by their very nature, call for early relief. The problem of delay and huge arrears stares us all and unless we can do something about it, the whole system would get crushed under weight. We must guard against the system getting discredited and people losing faith in it and taking recourse to extra legal remedies with all the sinister potentialities."

Enormous expenditure

He said that establishment of additional courts and appointment of staff at any level involved enormous expenditure. On the other hand, if the existing courts could be made to function in two shifts, with the same infrastructure, utilising the services of retired judges and judicial officers, reputed for their integrity and ability, it would ease the situation considerably and provide immense relief to the litigants. The accumulated arrears could be liquidated quickly and smoothly.

He said that shift system had been vogue in industrial establishments since long. It was introduced in educational institutions to cope up with increased demand and it was high time to introduce it in courts as well. The CJI also favoured introduction of alternative modes of disputes resolution viz arbitration, negotiation, mediation and conciliation.

`Use IT'

He said the day-to-day management of courts at all levels could be simplified and improved through use of information technology. He said recording of evidence could be done in jails through video conferencing to avoid delays and to reduce expenses in transporting the accused.

Transfer suggested

Pointing out that there were 41,34,024 cases involving petty offences pending in magisterial courts, he said these cases could be transferred to special courts to be manned by retired judicial officers who could make extensive use of information technology in disposal of such cases. He said the courts should avoid granting unnecessary adjournment of cases.

Justice Sabharwal criticised lawyers for resorting to strike and said "nowhere else, strikes by lawyers is ever heard of. The sections affected by the strikes, namely the courts as well as litigants have done nothing wrong to the advocates. Why should they be then targeted by lawyers going on strikes and abstaining from work? It is high time, the lawyers realise the undesirability of strikes and the immense damage they cause not only to the system but to their own credibility as well."

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