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Unfortunately, court statistics do not reveal the disaggregated data on pending cases in different levels of the system, the reasons for their pendency and how the problem is being addressed by the judiciary. It is in this context, this book consisting of 13 wide-ranging aspects of the problem analysed by Indian and foreign scholars assumes significance. Few of them were published earlier though they give the reader better insight on the issues involved in judicial reform. It is interesting to note that the editors who are both economists have their motivation to look at judicial reform because of its linkages with economic growth and development. Perhaps, the compulsions of a fast-growing economy and the clout that economists currently exercise on public policy development might generate the necessary impetus for revamping the legal and judicial system long neglected in the scheme of development planning and finance. However, the economic approach to judicial reform may not necessarily be the right approach as they measure efficiency of the system largely around property rights, enforcement of contracts and maintenance of order. Issues of access and equity in the larger context of poverty, diversity and social justice do not receive the attention they deserve in the scheme of economic liberalisation. This is the problem with many World Bank studies on law and judicial reform some of which the authors liberally quote in the volume.

Despite the preoccupation with property and contract in addressing legal and judicial problems, the editors have taken care to include contributions projecting issues like judicial strength, judicial infrastructure, judicial productivity and management of judicial administration. In this regard, the reviewer found the contributions of Carl Baar, Arnab K. Hazra, Barry Walsh and Amarjit S. Bedi particularly noteworthy as they look at the available data and propose directions for reform. They have argued that the neglect of judicial reforms involve heavy social, political and economic costs. According to them, a balanced, swift, fair and accessible justice delivery system aids in the development of markets, investments and economic growth thereby tending to reduce poverty and promote human development. Inefficiencies in judicial proceedings often generate opportunities for rent-seeking by lawyers, judges and court staff. The poor suffer the most in such situations. In fact as Videh Upadhyaya suggests in his piece “Justice and the Poor”, there is a living paradox in India today where the poor are endowed with a rich assortment of rights, while remedies stay elusive due to some structural limitations of the judiciary!

There are three aspects of judicial reform which the book emphasises as key to judicial productivity. The supply-side solution is the increase in the number of judges from the existing 14,000 to at least 50,000 with necessary supporting staff and infrastructure. The Supreme Court asked for it in the course of a judgment and the governments at the Centre and in the states seem to be not inclined for such a change at least in the near future. The only alternative is to look for strategies to enhance productivity through better planning and management. Introduction of information and communication technology into court systems and operations is a strategy that is said to be under various stages of implementation. Another strategy now being employed with the support of recent amendments to the Civil Procedure Code and Criminal Procedure Code is diversion of cases for settlement without trial through what are called Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods. Lok Adalats, for example, have been successful in early settlement of accident compensation cases. Yet another strategy now being explored is employment of improved case and docket management methods at the level of individual courts. Coupled with targeted judicial education and training, the strategy is expected to yield results in the medium term for controlling delay and arrears. In this regard, Carl Baar’s study on causes for delay and its consequences make interesting reading. Part of the problem is the judiciary itself which has no coherent policy of judicial workforce planning and disposition despite having power to control the appointment, discipline and promotion processes.

The chapter on court congestion by Hazra and Maja is a revealing study on the state of affairs in the subordinate courts where over 15 million cases are filed and an equal number disposed of annually by about 14,000 judges! At the same time, every year a million or more cases are added to the arrears of over 20 million cases. The authors find wide variations among courts on the rates of congestion/arrears and the number of judges per capita negatively related to congestion rates. The study is important to show that backlog and delay reduction is to be planned with reference to each court based on nature and level of litigation. It also questions the wisdom in courts focusing mainly on new cases filed each year and not addressing their pending cases.

Any intelligent reform can be initiated only on the basis of steady supply of disaggregated data and reliable judicial statistics which are singularly lacking with the Indian judiciary. No evaluation of effectiveness is possible without such data, nor can standards be evolved meaningfully for performance assessment. This is the weakest link in judicial reform efforts. Information technology can work miracles in delay reduction provided data is available on case flow management at the micro-level. A robust, automated Case Management System (CMS) based on ground level information organised, stored and processed through web-based systems is the recommended solution for greater judicial efficiency and productivity. A few states in India have already demonstrated the efficacy of such an IT-enabled CMS model for delay/arrears reduction. The relationship between technology and delay reduction is clearly brought out in the contribution of A.S.Bedi where he has attempted to demonstrate how in the flow of cases, technology can make perceptible difference in speed and accuracy. Technology can enhance, he writes, the quality and timeliness of justice; it increases the accountability of judges and court officials.

A study on criminal justice included in the volume raises several issues on the social and economic cost of crime, the deterrence or lack of it in terms of severity and certainty of punishment, the weaknesses of the enforcement system and the imperative need for urgent reform of police and court processes in dealing with crime. A balanced approach towards the rights of the accused and the needs of society is recommended in planning judicial reforms. As is usual in discourses on judicial reform, the book ignores the subject of reform of the legal profession without which no judicial reform is possible or practical. A large body of lawyers, poorly trained and equipped, enjoying monopolistic rights and privileges, and least accountable to delay, costs and access is a source of unmitigated trouble in the reform agenda. Neither the judiciary nor the government seems to be interested even in raising the issue despite occasional public outcry against the way legal services are administered. This is the tragedy of judicial administration today against which enlightened sections of the Bar will have to rise and agitate if better justice is to prevail.

This is a timely publication on a subject of growing importance in the context of economic liberalisation and demands for access to justice. It is a subject on which the judiciary, the legislature and the executive have to make united efforts, though the leadership role vests with the judiciary itself. The vast body of poor litigants who suffer the most have little clout to force reforms; yet, it is their trust and dependence on the system which sustains the rule of law and independence of the judiciary. It is this message which the book carries to those who run the system and are in a position to decide on judicial reforms.

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