By Sudhir Valia
Our Constitution has defined the structure of judiciary infrastructure; however, legal and judicial procedures are decades old and followed without considering current times and current realities. Many improvements are needed in our legal and justice system. Some of them and their solutions are described below.
We still follow limited court timings, and various holidays, including court vacations (such vacations are not found in any government or private organisations). In olden days, there may have been a limited number of cases, but now the number and pendency of cases has gone up many fold, as a result of which non-priority matters do not get chance of hearing before a court. These matters can be pending for years. Judges can take vacation but courts must not stop. Courts should not be closed during vacations and should be fully operational by additional judges and court staff.
Another problem is once the hearing starts, there is no fixed time. Cases get listed but generally only few matters are discussed, and unheard matters get adjourned. Many a times people travel from a distance and they may not participate; the parties get very limited time to argue and spontaneous response is required. Many a time the lawyer may not be aware; in fact, written submissions are taken from both the parties who are required to disclose all facts and then not allowed to add any more. If judges need explanations from parties, only then answers are given. All arguments and reasoning, thus, must be in written form.
Another problem is adjournments are taken when a lawyer has another case at the same time. This further delays the matter and the number of adjournments in a case is a part of life under our legal and judicial system. There is no disincentive either to the lawyers or to the courts in granting an adjournment.
(The writer is promoter, The Investment Trust of India & director, Sun Pharmaceutical. Views expressed are personal.)