-: Re: [rti4empowerment] Law Minister suggests Congress-like "solution"

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Re: [rti4empowerment] Law Minister suggests Congress-like "solution"

Dear Shri Victor Cooper,

Our compliments for the nice suggestions. In this contest, I would like to mention that currently, our society is suffering from ill-governance, resulting in the sufferings of the common man. These include. among others, increasing law & order problems; But such a situation is just because there is no accountability of the Investigating Officer (IOs) and the Public Prosecutor (PPs). If they are held accountable for any undue delay and let off & punishment, then not only congestion in courts would come down, our policing will become effective, and delivery of justice & governance will improve.

For this, only Judiciary has to pass strict structures and recommend the punishment for erring IOs and PPs.

With reference to "More judge, more arrears", I feel our present judicial system requires an efficient management. It can only be possible by making judiciary accountable for -

(a) unnecessary adjournments and prolonging arguments - The Supreme Court's bench of Justices D K Jain & J S Khehar on Jan 23, 2013 has said that delay in dispensation of justice could well be attributed to the judiciary's almost institutionalised generosity in granting adjournments and called for complete abolition. It mentioned about an enactment of an amendment in the form of fourth proviso to Section 309 (2) of the Cr PC, 1973 to tackle this problem. The amendment Law said, "No adjournments shall be granted at the request of a party, except where the circumstances are beyond the control of that party.;

(b) disappointing witnesses and treating them like a bonded person at the cost of their personal life and family security; and

(c) putting a large number of cases which are not possible to deal with. Before taking up any case, it should be scrutinised whether the case is complete in all respects.

Besides, I would like to add two points for speedy disposal of cases and reduction of cases:

(a) A lawyer should be appointed only on the recommendation of the court and not otherwise. {It is my impression that the delays are caused by the lawyers !} If preferred, the parties concerned should come to the court with all the evidences at their disposal and argue the cases themselves. And the judge pronounces the judgment based on their evidences.

(b) To reduce the number of cases, specify minimum punishment for every offense. Presently we have laid down 'maximum punishment." Maximum punishment is to be "life or death" even for a minor offense such as ignoring the red signal.

On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 6:22 AM, Victor Cooper victor99cooper@yahoo.com [rti4empowerment] <rti4empowerment-noreply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Now our beloved Law Minister suggests Congress-like "solution" to our justice system. He says he will cut down on appeals from lower courts in order to reduce the huge pendency of cases!

Sir, the problem and, hence, the solution lie elsewhere. Year after year the Law Commission as well as the Supreme Court have been crying for additional courts. Even by good developing country standards, the number of judges should be increased to three times! By developed country standards, we should have five times the number of courts! So, the first line of solution lies in increasing the number of courts at least 3-fold. If the Hon'ble Law Minister feels overwhelmed, this writer offers to fix the problem of numbers and infrastructure within one year flat at 1/3rd the salary and perks.
The other line of solution is to vet, review, and weed out the mindless and endless litigation by the government and its numerous agents.
Many if not most of the "judges" I have encountered are functionally and work-ethically are well below the mark. They typically are too arrogant, lax, and do not follow the law. Their works needs periodic and rigorous review, evaluation, and carrot-stick. They need to undergo periodic training / re-training. The courts need to be audio-video recorded.

There needs to be a strong and independent oversee framework.
One wonders if the Hon'ble Law Minister will actually implement such measures, or will we keep hearing Congress-like empty "music" for five years with nothing to show except a hefty salary and perks bill.

Victor