Read Time: 09 minutes

Synopsis

The Supreme Court has recently emphasised on streamlining procedures, bolstering infrastructure, investing in technology, and empowering judiciary to meet the demands of the time to address the issue of delay in deciding cases.

Court has called upon all stakeholders—the legal fraternity, the legislature, the executive, and the citizens themselves—to join hands in a concerted effort to untangle the web of delay and pendency. 

A bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar has accordingly issued a slew of directions for the civil courts to unfailingly comply with the procedural timelines laid down under the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), on summons, written statements and framing of issues, among others.

Court has ordered for the trial to proceed accordingly to the extent possible, on a day-to-day basis. Court has also asked the chief justices of all high courts to constantly monitor the progress in such trials.

“The edifice of our democracy depends on a judiciary that dispenses justice not as an afterthought but as a paramount mission. We must adapt, we must reform, and we must ensure that justice is not a mirage but a tangible reality for all,” court has said.

It noted that there are review committees functional in most high courts to take stock of the case-flow management system, but the effective implementation seems to have gone into oblivion.

Thus, it has been ordered that monthly statistics relating to the cases pending in each court beyond five years shall be forwarded by every presiding officer to the principal district judge, who shall collate the same and forward it to the review committee constituted by the respective high courts for enabling it to take further steps.

“The committee so constituted by the chief justice of the respective states shall meet at least once in two months and direct such corrective measures to be taken by concerned court as deemed fit and shall also monitor the old cases (preferably which are pending for more than five years) constantly,” the bench said.

Relying upon National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), the bench found that there are 11.1 million civil cases pending across the courts in the country with 22% of these cases being at least five years old.

It has been found that delay usually happened due to procedural laxities and easy adjournments, and emphasized that proactive steps are required to not only clear the huge backlog of cases at all levels but there should be introspection by all the stakeholders so as to curtail the methods adopted to delay the proceedings.

“The time for procrastination is long past, for justice cannot be a casualty of bureaucratic inefficiency. We must act now, for the hour is late, and the call for justice is unwavering. Let us, as guardians of the law, restore the faith of our citizens in the promise of a just and equitable society,” court has said.

It is crucial to understand that the wheels of justice must not merely turn, they must turn without friction, without bringing it to a grinding halt due to unwarranted delay, the bench has opined.

In the instant matter, the court was hearing a 41-year-old civil case, where, it said, the parties were groping in the dark and litigating as to who should be brought on record as legal representative of the sole plaintiff Urmila Devi. 

This is a classic case and a mirror to the fact that litigant public may become disillusioned with judicial processes due to inordinate delay in the legal proceedings, not reaching its logical end, and moving at a snail’s pace due to dilatory tactics adopted by one or the other party, the bench said.

Expressing its anguish over the delay, it has said when millions of consumers of justice file their cases by knocking at the doors of the courts of first instance, they expect speedy justice.

Noting that about six percent of the population in India is affected by litigation, it has been observed that in such a scenario the courts would play an important role in the life of a nation governed by rule of law.

Case Title: Yashpal Jain vs. Sushila Devi & Others