Justice : Mirage in a Physical Court ?
Context :
Pending cases have now crossed 5 cr , House told / TOI / 21 July 2023
Extract :
The total pendency in lower and district courts are at an all time high of 4.4 cr ( 44 Million ) as on 14 July
There is no prescribed timeline for disposal of cases as courts continue to indulge absence of counsels and repeated adjournments.
The Centre, while responding to a question in Parliament on the burden on judiciary , on Thursday attributed several factors behind the increasing pendency , including,
# the LACK OF A TIME-FRAME for courts to decide disposal of cases ,
# LACK OF PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE , and
# VACANCY OF JUDGES
Over 5,388 posts of Judicial Officers are vacant in lower courts and over 330 in HCs
Other reasons attributed by the Government include ,
# Complexity of cases involved
# Nature of Evidence
# Co-operation of Stakeholders viz; Bar - Investigation Agencies - Witnesses – Litigants
# Proper application of Rules
MY TAKE :
More laws don’t necessarily mean less number of cases . This could happen in a country where :
Ø Population is stagnant or decreasing
Ø Citizen are “ law – abiding “
In our case , exactly opposite is true !
One fall-out of delay in delivery of justice is > People tend to “ take law into their own hands “ ( eg. Public beating up of suspects / lynching etc )
Of course , there can be no justification for such cases of “ Instant Justice “ for the following reasons :
Ø Delivery of justice cannot be left to the “ beliefs “ of a crowd
Ø A suspect gets no chance to “ defend “ himself by producing evidence / witnesses
One may even wonder whether the number of NEW CASES being registered , might go up sharply if,
Ø Justice got delivered super fast ? ( 6 months instead of 6 years )
Ø Fighting a court case cost one-tenth of what it costs today ( - by introduction of VIRTUAL COURTS )
Every solution ( for a given problem ) , is very likely to throw up new / unanticipated problems
But then , such “ fear of the unknown “ must not be allowed to “ paralyze “ our thinking and freeze us into “ inaction “
If the ultimate GOAL is clear, it should not matter if the taken path requires a few diversions.
A shining example is AADHAR card / ID .
Not only has it survived many “ speed-breakers “ in its way, it has reached a
stage where it is admired by countries around the World ( some of which are likely to borrow this concept /
technology from India )
In the matter of speedy delivery of justice ( the GOAL ) , our path is,
Ø 24 x 7 , “ Virtual Courts “ ( 10,000 must be set up by Dec 2024 )
Ø Presided by retired judges ( “ per case “ fees with BONUS / PENALTY clause ), operating
Ø From the comfort of their homes ( provided with fast internet connection and a large monitor )
Ø Requiring no other infrastructure burden on the State
Apart from the above, following may be introduced in the Virtual Courts :
Ø No adjournments ( ex parte decisions in the very first – and only – online hearing )
Ø All cross-examinations to be online
Ø Centrally governed AI Software for following processes :
# After online filing of a case , software will fix a date by which litigants must submit ( online ), all
the required documents and list of witnesses ( with their full contact details , including AADHAR ids )
# Fixing the ( one and only ) “ Hearing Date / Time “ based on receipt of ALL documents from the
litigants and their lawyers, as mentioned above
# If lawyers desire to quote any “ case law “ or “ previous court judgments “ , these must be filed
ONLINE , in advance , by a date fixed by the software
# If lawyers wish to submit any argument generated by AI , same shall be declared as such
Dear Shri Arjun Ram Meghwalji,
( Minister for Law / mljoffice@gov.in ) ,
In support of my above-mentioned suggestions, I request you to look up my earlier emails on this subject,
listed below
With Regards,
Hemen Parekh
www.hemenparekh.ai / 22 July 2023
Related E Mails :
24x7 Virtual Courts ? Here is a Design……………………… 08 July 2023
Live Streaming of Court Proceedings.. …………………………09 Nov 2020
Virtual Court Benchmarks…………………………………………….. 14 Jan 2021
Thanks Supreme Court for hearing my PIL………………….. 26 Mar 2021
24x7 e-Courts ? ………………………………………………
Where Angels Fear to Tread ?.. ………………………………………31 June 2021
JUST is the Answer .. ……………………………………………………..16 July 2021
Supreme Proposes : Can e-Courts dispose ? .. …………28 Sept 2020
Law : Nothing Artificial in Arbitration…………………………… 16 Feb 2020
See You Out of Court …………………………………………………… 11 Jan 2020
AI come to judgement ? Not for a while !................... 17 Dec 2019
Congratulations, Hon CJI , Shri S A Bobdeji………………… 07 Dec 2019
Liar vs Liar ?........................
Justice delayed is Justice Denied …………………………………12 Sept 2018
Says Prez : Make judgements easier to understand…….01 Nov 2017
Never file a Court Case ?........................
An App called “ AdJourn “ ………………………………………………19 Aug 2017
Justice Delayed - but not Denied……………………………………24 Nov 2013
Justice at Warp Speed ?.......................
CC :
Ashutosh Modi ( IIT-K , Computer Science Department ) / ashutosh@coli.uni-
Arnab Bhattacharya ( IIT-K, Computer Science Department ) / arnabb@iitk.ac.in
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research – Kolkata / kripaghosh@iiserkol.
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