2008 TIME TO CHANGE
HOPE AND SCOPE FOR JUDICIAL MAKEOVER
With More Judges And An E-Friendly System, Backlog In Cases Should Dip
Mumbai: The year 2008 may well turn out to be a year of change for the courts. There is hope and scope for much modernisation and several schemes and plans are afoot to drag the legal system into the e-age and to get rid of the backlog of pending cases.
To begin with, Bombay high court, with a newly sanctioned strength of 75 judges, will become the second largest high court in the country. With this comes new challenges, the first of which is to get all appointments and infrastructure in place. Right now, however, the court, is 11 judges short of even the existing sanctioned level of 64 judges. Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar says at least eight vacancies will be filled up by the end of the year. The concern among the legal fraternity is, however, that the new incoming judges ought to include some of the sharper legal minds from the bar, which unfortunately hasnt been happening in recent years as a judges salary is still not enough to attract counsels with a flourishing practice.
If and when more judges come, the judiciary is hopeful that the backlog of cases will dip. There are over 3.6 lakh cases pending in the Bombay high court alone. The Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan recently said, on a visit to the city, that the country needs one judge per taluka and should have at least a ratio of 55 judges per million population instead of the present ratio of 11 per million.
Apart from vacancies in the HC, there is the challenge of filling up vacancies across the lower courts. The HC is in the last steps of appointing 70 district judges. In Mumbai alone, there are 22 vacancies at the city civil and sessions court, where important criminal trials such as the one in the Pramod Mahajan murder case took place.
The whopping 400 vacancies in the magistrates courts are also in the process of being filled. Appointments are only likely to be made in the first couple of
months of 2008.
Once judges and judicial officers are in place, the next item on the agenda would be to step up plans on making the courts efriendly. There are efforts to implement the centres five-year dream scheme to turn all courts into e-courts with computers and internet-enabled filing of petitions, or to begin with, applications on-line.
Using information technology for case management may be one of the vital areas of focus given the extent of backlogs. However,.a clear plan is yet awaited on modalities of implementation even though 15,000 judges in the lower judiciary in India have already been given laptops as part of the project.
The Bombay high court, however, has succeeded in its ambitious plan to digitise a significant portion of court records. For starters, all courts in the state are linked to computers and records and proceedings of over two crore cases have been computerised. The humungous task was achieved in association with the National Informatics Centre. The next and perhaps one of the biggest moves, which a section of the lawyers is opposed to, would be a change in the original jurisdiction of the high court. This essentially means that the high courts power to entertain disputes worth over Rs 50,000 will be clipped. The power will now be transferred to the city civil court which so far could decide civil cases where disputed amounts were only up to Rs 50,000. It will now have unlimited jurisdiction.
The supreme court had upheld the states 1987 law on the issue and now the state is in the process of getting the infrastructure in place for the city court so that a smooth transition in jurisdiction change can take place.
The state will be using large portions of the Wockhardt Building in south Mumbai for the courts and has already shifted part of the city civil court to Goregaon, Dindoshi.
ALSO ON THE WISHLIST
The year 2008 will also see further decentralisation of the sessions courts in Mumbai. A court complex inaugurated in September 2007 in Goregaon will cater to those living between Dahisar and Andheri; plans are to similarly create jurisdictions and courts on geographical boundaries to ease the burden on courts in south Mumbai.
Another modernisation plan is for the high court library and a blueprint has been sought for managing its 1.3 lakh books and journals.
The majestic Gothic high court building also needs more attention. It did get more space with extra floors being opened in the annexe building for a judges lounge; the domed hall where Bal Gangadhar Tilak was sentenced for sedition in 1908 too received a fresh coat of paint earlier this year. Whats needed now, say experts, is a fresh coat of judicial reforms.
To begin with, Bombay high court, with a newly sanctioned strength of 75 judges, will become the second largest high court in the country. With this comes new challenges, the first of which is to get all appointments and infrastructure in place. Right now, however, the court, is 11 judges short of even the existing sanctioned level of 64 judges. Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar says at least eight vacancies will be filled up by the end of the year. The concern among the legal fraternity is, however, that the new incoming judges ought to include some of the sharper legal minds from the bar, which unfortunately hasnt been happening in recent years as a judges salary is still not enough to attract counsels with a flourishing practice.
If and when more judges come, the judiciary is hopeful that the backlog of cases will dip. There are over 3.6 lakh cases pending in the Bombay high court alone. The Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan recently said, on a visit to the city, that the country needs one judge per taluka and should have at least a ratio of 55 judges per million population instead of the present ratio of 11 per million.
Apart from vacancies in the HC, there is the challenge of filling up vacancies across the lower courts. The HC is in the last steps of appointing 70 district judges. In Mumbai alone, there are 22 vacancies at the city civil and sessions court, where important criminal trials such as the one in the Pramod Mahajan murder case took place.
The whopping 400 vacancies in the magistrates courts are also in the process of being filled. Appointments are only likely to be made in the first couple of
months of 2008.
Once judges and judicial officers are in place, the next item on the agenda would be to step up plans on making the courts efriendly. There are efforts to implement the centres five-year dream scheme to turn all courts into e-courts with computers and internet-enabled filing of petitions, or to begin with, applications on-line.
Using information technology for case management may be one of the vital areas of focus given the extent of backlogs. However,.a clear plan is yet awaited on modalities of implementation even though 15,000 judges in the lower judiciary in India have already been given laptops as part of the project.
The Bombay high court, however, has succeeded in its ambitious plan to digitise a significant portion of court records. For starters, all courts in the state are linked to computers and records and proceedings of over two crore cases have been computerised. The humungous task was achieved in association with the National Informatics Centre. The next and perhaps one of the biggest moves, which a section of the lawyers is opposed to, would be a change in the original jurisdiction of the high court. This essentially means that the high courts power to entertain disputes worth over Rs 50,000 will be clipped. The power will now be transferred to the city civil court which so far could decide civil cases where disputed amounts were only up to Rs 50,000. It will now have unlimited jurisdiction.
The supreme court had upheld the states 1987 law on the issue and now the state is in the process of getting the infrastructure in place for the city court so that a smooth transition in jurisdiction change can take place.
The state will be using large portions of the Wockhardt Building in south Mumbai for the courts and has already shifted part of the city civil court to Goregaon, Dindoshi.
ALSO ON THE WISHLIST
The year 2008 will also see further decentralisation of the sessions courts in Mumbai. A court complex inaugurated in September 2007 in Goregaon will cater to those living between Dahisar and Andheri; plans are to similarly create jurisdictions and courts on geographical boundaries to ease the burden on courts in south Mumbai.
Another modernisation plan is for the high court library and a blueprint has been sought for managing its 1.3 lakh books and journals.
The majestic Gothic high court building also needs more attention. It did get more space with extra floors being opened in the annexe building for a judges lounge; the domed hall where Bal Gangadhar Tilak was sentenced for sedition in 1908 too received a fresh coat of paint earlier this year. Whats needed now, say experts, is a fresh coat of judicial reforms.