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-Dr. Dharmpal Sahil
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Supreme Court recently acknowledged the reality that people are so fed up with the court process that they want to settle anyhow so that they do not have to come to court. Since the court process becomes a punishment for them, the petitioners are ready to settle for a lesser amount. However, they deserve a higher amount. He expressed concern over this, calling it a terrible situation. In this context, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal presented the real picture of pending cases in various courts across the country in the Lok Sabha session.
According to the data released by the minister in the Lok Sabha, more than five crore court cases are pending awaiting justice. Out of these, 84045 cases are pending in the Supreme Court, 6011678 cases in the High Courts and 45351913 (more than four crore) in the lower courts. Their total number is 51447636 and the highest number of 1.18 crore cases are pending in Uttar Pradesh alone. Meghwal also presented the details of such pending cases state-wise. The Law Minister also said that only 698904 cases related to the Central Government are registered.
Of these, the highest number of cases are related to the Finance and Defence Ministries. He also admitted that the high number of cases is due to the lack of staff-judges, insufficient cooperation from investigating agencies, witnesses and the plaintiff. There is no time limit imposed on the courts for settling cases. Due to this, the situation has become dire. Meghwal promised to take help from the law reform program. However, about 40 years ago, former Chief Justice Bhagwati had said this with a heavy heart, “I have to say with a very sad heart that our judicial system has reached the verge of collapse.” It is getting buried under the burden of pending cases. It is sad that even after forty years, the drain is the same. Rather, the channel has now turned into a big channel. In the meantime, many law ministers and chief justices came and went, but no one took any step for concrete improvement in this regard. Who are the people responsible for making and getting dates? Who appoints the staff and judges in the courts? Who orders the judges to settle the case within the time limit? Who will stop unnecessary lawsuits?
Who will stop the police from filing false cases? Who will break the chain of conversations of lawyers, judges, false witnesses, mediators, investigation agencies, readers, registrars, judges etc.? Once the victim of excesses, the petitioner in the form of Abhimanyu, gets caught in their cycle, then rarely any evidence comes to light. In the courts, decisions are made only on the basis of lawyers' arguments, witnesses and evidence, justice is not obtained. Even the successful petitioner has lost so much time, money, energy and many years of life that his victory is also very expensive. He himself is very sad while punishing the criminal. It is not said that a person enters the court with black hair and comes back covered with dust or a father files a case, the grandchildren have to hear the decision. It is also said that the walls of the courts also ask for money and may God protect the person from illness and lawsuits. The law is blind.
That is why the Goddess of Justice is blindfolded. 'Justice delayed, justice denied' means that delay in justice means being deprived of justice. Punjabi's leading poet Surjit Patar did not leave this world crying, “People have scattered in this court/They have dried up after hearing the verdicts/Now let's go to the deserted house/How long will we stand here?” What could be a more terrible tragedy for a common man in the Indian judicial system than realizing this?
The truth which the Chief Justice of the country himself has accepted is that people become so disappointed, frustrated, helpless, powerless and compelled by this justice system that they have to compromise. The big problem is that the accused lawyer keeps taking advantage of bail, stay or interim relief on the basis of money and false witnesses and the client remains trapped in the cycle of lower sessions, High Court to Supreme Court. The rich man takes full advantage of the higher courts by appointing expensive lawyers and the idol of justice for the poor always remains blindfolded. Chief Justice Chandrachud and the Law Minister have done the work of lifting the veil from the gongluans by giving the statistics of the cases and expressing concern over the pending cases and their reasons. Just think, if even one lakh cases are settled in a year, then how many decades will it take to settle more than five crore cases? Will the matter be solved only by the concern of the Chief Justice and the Law Minister?
