By:M.Megna Mariyam
[Asst. Professor ,Pendekanti Law College]
Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com
JUSTICE DELIVERY IN INDIA: BRIDGING THE PROMISE AND REALITY
Constitutional justice and social reality
India is a nation of two realities. One India gleams in prosperity and high standard of living. The other India continues to grapple with poverty, social exclusions and the daily struggle for basic amenities. While the Constitution promises equality before the law and justice for all, the life experience of millions reflects a stark divergence from this ideal. In a diverse socio-economic landscape as that of India, the justice delivery system is not only an instrument to uphold the law but to bridge the socio-economic divide. The judicial system of India has its roots in colonial times. After the end of British regime, we adopted the constitution and created courts in a hierarchical system. When India gained independence from the clutches of colonial rule, it has carried with it some social evils from colonial period. The Supreme Court ruled in its 2018 judgement Young Lawyers Association v. State of Kerala, besides the struggle for independence from colonial hands, there was another struggle going on from centuries, the struggle for social emancipation. The Constitution of India is the outcome of both these struggles. It seeks to remedy injustices suffered in a socially hierarchical society. The colonial courts were reluctant in protecting the rights of citizens. It was with the birth of the constitutional democracy a dedicated judiciary to protect interests of citizens were evolved.
Systemic challenges in Justice Delivery
In nation as diverse as ours, the greatest challenge the judiciary faces is to ensure that the justice delivery systems is accessible to everyone. All stakeholders of the judicial institution including Supreme Court and High Court Judges and members of district judiciary are duty bound to protect interest of citizens and create faith (amongof people in the judiciary. They should collaborate to strengthen the institution. It is people’s participation that determines the strength and stability of the institution. As a part of this mission, it is crucial to enhance the representatives of marginalized communities and women in judiciary to reflect diversity of the country. Every citizen deserves a world where justice is impartial, accessible and delivered without fear or favour, which is the promise of the constitution. Unfortunately, in recent times ordinary citizens are apprehensive to approach the court, fearing the unknown. They raise concerns about delays, pendency, accessibility, deficient infrastructure, large vacancies, transparency of legal proceedings, the ill-equipped criminal justice system increasing number of false cases, as quoted by the former Chief Justice of India, Justice N. V. Ramana. It is the need of the hour to address these evils and formulate solutions, which otherwise would erode the faith of people in the judiciary. The legal procedures may be tailored to address Indian population and their problems. The system should reach out to the marginalized and outcast masses of the country. This may be effected by a grater extend by administration of justice in local languages to enable transparency for litigants and public. Simplifying language of law would enable clients to understand the court proceedings. Once the language barrier is reduced, the access to justice improves considerably. It is a usual trend that litigants are often denied access to timely update of their disputes once the case is filed, expect the information received at the convenience of their lawyers. This practice erodes the quality of justice delivery among the public at large. A robust case information system would enhance delivery of justice by providing timely and complete update on progress of their cases, not having to await the availability of their lawyers.
A critical aspect of a judicial system is the effective and timely delivery of justice. This can be achieved only if the substantial crisis of backlogs and vacancies is addressed urgently by the judiciary and the government. The Indian judiciary burdened by an overwhelming backlog of cases is a problem that cannot be overlooked in delaying justice delivery. It could be prevented if the legal system is more amenable to settlement options. Lawyer led and judge-guided mediation opens opportunity for litigants to sit with a trained neutral mediator, nudging the parties to come up with practical options for a fair and mutually acceptable solution. The backlog that appears to be a burden on Judges may be transformed into an opportunity for mediators. There are mediators in sufficient numbers with years of experience to handle cases of such nature. All it takes is a system of primary identification of such cases, parties to choose their mediator and ensuring a reasonable fee is paid for their service. Cases that are left to be settled through mediations take just handful of sessions. This would save parties the cost and time in accessing justice which would only form a fraction of the litigation cost and time span. Although mediation has caught its place in the judicial system, it is time for judiciary to rigorously promote mediations in dispute resolution turning the problem of backlogs into opportunity.
The ever increasing number of judicial vacancies is yet another issue that adds to the mounting backlogs, threatening the effective justice delivery. The 2025 India Justice Report revealed 21% vacancies of the total sanctioned strength in High Court, indicating high workload for the existing judges. Naturally, this has a direct impact on the already alarming levels of backlog. As millions of people have to wait a long time for justice, their faith in the judicial system gradually erode. This calls for immediate remedial and reformative measures. In that context, introducing and invoking the provision to appoint ‘distinguished jurists’ to High courts of the country may turn out to be a game changer. This would bridge the gap between actual and sanctioned strength of courts, helping to fill the existing vacancies. Article 124(3)(c) of the Constitution becomes increasingly significant in this context. The provision allows appointment of individuals who in the opinion of the President are ‘distinguished jurists’ as judges of Supreme Court. However, provision that permitted similar appointment in High Courts was repealed without any states reason. No jurists have been appointed under the provision till date. Although it is a routine practice in jurisdictions across the globe to appoint jurists as judges, appointments of judges in India has always been from either Bar or judicial services. The judicial system of a number of countries such as USA, Italy, South Africa, Spain allow appointment of jurists to posts equivalent to that of judges in Supreme Court and High Courts. Therefore, the judiciary should rethink on appointing jurists as judges by reintroducing Article 217(2)(c) and harnessing Article 124(3)(c) to enable India to vastly benefit from this global practice. Such a step could prove to be transformative for the Indian judiciary in the years to come.
Digitising justice delivery
Indian judiciary is in its endeavour to adopt modern technology to working of courts. Courts are remodelled to reach out to people to ensure delivery of justice. After COVID 19 pandemic, the judiciary’s engagement with technology has grown more prevalent. The technological infrastructure may be expanded to reach out to public in quest for justice. The remodelling of judiciary in hybrid mode where the Supreme Court and various High Courts function both online and offline enabled lawyers and parties to appear in courts from different parts of the country. The primary interphase between people and judicial system is served by district judiciary. Therefore, it is essential to extend the benefit of technology at grass root level in resolving the problems in access to justice. Leveraging technology in such areas would reduce institutional flaws such as delays in listing and hearing cases and the consequent backlogs.
E-initiatives undertaken recently in judiciary including the “Justice virtual clock” is a platform that provides information to public at three levels covering all court establishments in India. It provides update on progress of cases to the parties. Another initiative is S3waas which stands for “Secure, scalable and sugamya website as a service”. Through this initiative, websites of district courts are upgraded from existing system to a platform which is secure, scalable and accessible. Contents published in the website are made available to the public. These initiatives reflect the attempt of judiciary to ensure access to justice to citizens. Equitable delivery of justice may be achieved only when such initiatives should largely focus on groups who are denied basic rights rather than on people who are already in possession of access. However, the deep-seated social realities of India such as digital illiteracy, lack of internet penetration in rural areas, linguistic barriers and socio-economic exclusion continue to make these initiatives largely inaccessible to the marginalized, thereby rendering justice effectively denied to a significant section of the population. The bitter truth is that unless these underlying barriers are addressed first, technological advancements alone will do little to bridge the justice gap.
