Competence, collective effort, and ways to unburden lower courts: Experts

Vacancies are often cited as one of the big reasons for delay in justice at the lower courts; but, experts believe that there are several other ways that could be thought of to improvise the system of delivering justice. Some of these measures include, showing competence, making efforts collectively to improve, prioritising work, sticking to a deadline, and no knee-jerk judgments, experts said.

"First and foremost, lack of competence at all levels is a truth. Judges, prosecutors and officers do not do their homework and that leads to delays," Kalpana Chavan, former chief public prosecutor at the Sessions Court, Mumbai, said. She said that judges do not prepare themselves enough for taking up a case.

"There was a time when chargesheets were only a few pages long. However, now, they run on endlessly. These things delay the process of justice. Witnesses drop out when several dates are given as they too have work. Prosecutors need to work seriously. Once they have accepted a job, salary should not concern them," Chavan said. The view was echoed by most who said that there were some issues that needed to be resolved through collective efforts.

"Judges also need to prioritise their day's board. Some judges are not trained. It needs to be done on the basis of adjournments, trials, witnesses and cross-examinations. There is no point in hearing a particular case like mutual divorce, or maintenance under section 125 of CrPC where you do not require long arguments. Judges need to cut long arguments of lawyers short when they go on and on to impress their clients," Flavia Agnes, founder of Majlis which takes up cases related to women, children and family affairs in lower courts, said.

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In case of long arguments or where the parties keep dragging on, experts said that a penalty should be included.

"There cannot be a strict timeline for every case but, for some cases, a cost should be put on unnecessary adjournments. Even the police should not refer every case when they know that no prosecution is possible. There has to be a filtering process. Small changes rather than big ones can do a lot," Advocate Abhinav Sekhri, a Delhi-based lawyer, who is researching on pendency of criminal trials, said.

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Sekhri further said, "The points on which the finality of a trial can be decided on by approaching a higher court, needs to be revisited. Judges at lower courts tend to withdraw when a higher court intervenes. This makes judges draw back in the meantime. A new judge has a different way of appreciating matters," Chavan said.

Other sundry matters like prisoners not reaching on time because they come from a distance, or delay or missing out on intimating parties for a hearing are other issues which experts said can be resolved through efficient infrastructure.

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Experts said that knee-jerk reactions should also be avoided when there is a problem. "When cases like the Nirbhaya incident occur, couts speed up proceedings for some of them but not for all. That leads to nowhere. Also, new measures like doing up of courtrooms to make them victim-friendly can add to delays," Agnes said.

Kamal Trivedi, Anil Kella and Sudhir Nanavati

The selected candidates have to undergo a comprehensive training before they can sit independently and decide cases, which at times add to the delay 
— Kamal Trivedi, Advocate General, Gujarat 

Long holidays have become a thing of the past and now, courts are usually closed during important holidays only 
— Anil Kella, chairman, Bar Council of disciplinary committee, Guj

Bar and Bench should meet at intervals and discuss about old pending cases and try to find out solution for completion of hearing of old cases 
— Sudhir Nanavati, Senior advocate