If 5 minutes are given to every pending case it would take the following no of yrs for the following High Courts to resolve them
Allahbad - 60
Madras- 32
Bombay- 27
....... The total for all the high courts is a staggering 297 years.
It will take three centuries to clear all the cases in our courts. Assuming of course that one does get down to clearing them.
If that should worry our lawyers, then they are showing no signs of it - they work for only 213 days in a year at an average of 5 hours a day...this system hasnt changed since pre independence.
They are of course bettered only by our eminent Members of Parliament who averaged 46 working days in the 14th Lok Sabha, a third of the MPs never even participated in a debate in the Parliament.
Considering that our country is faced with a constant threat to its national security and battling the worst economic crisis since the second world war, it seems as if only a miracle can save the common man.
The point is that two of the three legs on which the functioning of the country is based, the judiciary and legislative, are crumbling.
It has almost become a joke with non performance becoming acceptable day by day.
The strike called by the lawyers in the Madras HC reeked of their high handedness and the assumption of them being above the law. The core issue of a controversial remark by a lawyer sparked of violent protests with their demands changing to removal of police officers and supporting the cause of the LTTE. It ultimately ended up in a political tangle.
Take the forthcoming elections- while in the US contestants debate over issues concerning the interests of the people and talk about policies and the people they will involve to implement, in India issues are second priority...it is all about forging alliances..and that too not on ideological lines but convenience. The voter is reduced to a non entity.
It is time that the common man, suppressed for so long, voices his protest. By voting intellingently. A silver lining was the appeal by a senior Muslim cleric in Deoband requesting voters to vote not on religious lines but in the interests of the country as a whole for India is after a secular country. We need more people, more leaders like him who can rise above petty politics to guide people in the right direction.
4 comments:
It's high time change happened: that's the only thing a faction of our generation's sure about. The rest are happy letting things continue the way they are or can't afford to care less.
The fall of judiciary has been pretty eminent for quite some time with continuous efforts on part of the apex court falling flat on it's face. Nearly every time it's the bar associations which have their way through. The way to go about it would be to somehow reduce their powers and for political reforms: nothing but revolution seems the way out
In Bihar, the govt. recently increased work hours by half an hour I think, and lawyers went on a strike saying the current timings have been in place for over a 100 years.
Dangle the carrot..thats the model the courts in Delhi and Gujarat( Maharashtra is following soon) have adopted - "evening courts". The lawyers upto the magistrate level will be paid 25% of their salary to work for two hours after courts close to clear cheque bounce and other petty issues which are a major portion of the backlog of cases.Lawyers in Bihar should not object to extra working hours in this model!
The initiative of 4000 gram nyalyayas sounds good on paper but will it work or rather get implemented at the grassroots?
You make a very valid point. Things are extremely unlikely to change unless the people start rallying for the change in huge numbers. As for the political process of our country- largest democracy counts for pittance. The politicians are mostly power hungry, selfish and lazy.. Its not going to change unless smart young and educated people join the political process.. but again that's equally unlikely as they view politics as a dirty, dynastic game(which to a great extent it is).
Post a Comment