Justice Frustrated: the systemic impact of delays in Indian courts

Abstract

Adjudication of disputes in any legal system does not contemplate the instant culmination of the process, and ordinary delay is therefore obvious. However, the delays contemplated by the system are structural and not inordinate and endemic. For instance, a criminal trial does not envisage an instant culmination of the process and makes provision for bail for the accused, while the trial is yet to commence or conclude. The provisions of bail, in fact, take into account delays in the appellate courts and therefore, a convict can also be released on bail. This reflects acknowledgement by the legal system of the ordinary delays that occur. It is when delays are inordinate that they become a matter of concern and it is this problem that plagues the Indian legal system. Scholarship on judicial delays attempts to mainstream the most pressing concern faced by the Indian legal system at present. Scholarship on doctrinal principles of law and examination of its effects is desirable but if the actual operation of those principles is marred by delay, the discourse on principles borders on becoming irrelevant. Contemporary scholarship debates the disturbing trend of the process itself being the punishment and the inevitability of delay in the process being used to assuage the vindictive aspirations of people in power who misuse the powers of State. Justice Frustrated: The Systemic Impact of Delays in Indian Courts, based on a study by the research organization Daksh, portrays how the information available in the public domain through the means of the internet, made accessible by the state itself, can provide much information about the working of the different courts, especially in terms of handling of the caseload. The information about District Court cases, having received relatively less focus by scholars, is significant for the right of ordinary citizens to access to justice. Justice Frustrated brings on board innovative ways of addressing the problem of delay beyond the relevant but cliché arguments of filling vacancies amongst judges, increasing the number of judges along with the support staff and cautioning against unwarranted adjournments.