The Hindu : National : Administrative reforms can avert litigation, says Balakrishnan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 24, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

Administrative reforms can avert litigation, says Balakrishnan

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan on Saturday blamed the lack of proper governmental administration for the large number of cases being filed, especially in higher courts, and the consequent delay in disposal.

Administrative reforms could prevent a number of cases coming to court. In a large number of pending cases, the government was one of the parties, as defendant or appellant. These cases arose for lack of proper governmental administration. “If the decision-making authorities take firm, independent and impartial decisions, the citizens would not normally be driven to litigation,” the Chief Justice said presiding over a two-day national seminar on judicial reforms here.

“Now, a large number of financial institutions are trying to recover money through criminal proceedings by making use of the provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The courts have become the collection agents for these financial institutions. Most of them are privately owned by people who engage in the practice of giving usurious loans. Because of these types of cases, trial of ordinary criminal cases is seriously hampered.”

As regards criminal cases, he said: “Inept policing and weak prosecution are hugely responsible for slowing down and protracting criminal trial in many courts.”

Case management

The Chief Justice said: “The National Judicial Academy is preparing a proper case management system to avoid delay and arrears. We are trying to have a planned approach to delay and arrears reduction. We are trying to have National Minimum Court Performance Standards that will set the minimum that the people of India can expect from subordinate courts. We are also thinking of having Common Minimum Human Resource Management Standards and Common Minimum Judicial Infrastructure Standards.”

Union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj conceded that successive governments had ignored the judiciary for long. Pointing out that the judiciary was fully independent and had brought laurels to the country, he explained the steps taken by the government for creation of infrastructure, increasing the strength of judges, computerisation, etc, for speedy and effective dispensation of justice.

Attorney-General Milon Banjerjee said much of the court’s time was being wasted on long winding arguments. He favoured fixing a rigid schedule for arguments. He said the alternative dispute resolution system would be effective in reducing arrears.

Solicitor-General G.E. Vahanvati, citing the example of London, suggested the setting up of ‘commercial courts’ to resolve commercial disputes.

Confederation of Indian Bar president P.H. Parekh, Bar Council of India chairman S. Gopakumaran Nair and senior advocate Harish Salve spoke.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National