Administration of Civil Justice and Its Glorious Uncertainty in the Indian Legal System

“Justice delayed is justice denied” and “justice hurried is justice buried” are oft quoted proverbs in legal studies. While the latter is rarely prevalent in India, the former has maligned the image of the Indian legal system considerably. Delay in disposal of cases, pendency of cases, especially those of civil and commercial nature, and inducing unnecessary procedural complexities in litigation process are hindrances that come in the way of access to justice. Several reports of the Law Commission of India have pointed out that the present situation is very grim with escalating number of pending cases in the courts in India. To add to this compelling situation, the COVID-19 pandemic has further disrupted the court proceedings by increasing burden, moving the hearings from physical to virtual courtrooms. The endeavour of the authors in this chapter has been to search for convincing reasons that have led to inordinate delays in disposal of civil cases and to find out possible solutions to this problem plaguing the Indian legal system.