Pranati Sinha, Narsee Monje Institute of Management Studies, School of Law
INTRODUCTION
The first-ever written constitution in European history, the Magna Carta mentioned, “[t]o no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse to delay, right or justice.”1
Pendency of cases might be one of the biggest problems a judicial system can face, as it prolongs justice, the single-most important thing a judiciary seeks to deliver. In fact, time is the very essence of justice. If justice is not timely, it might render it inappropriate or even, futile.
The Indian judiciary too has faced a time immemorial problem- that of growing petitions and appeals in the courts of India and their pendency. And justly so, either by statues which set up alternative and quasi-judicial courts, or measures taken by the Chief justices of India, various systems have been integrated into the justice system to ameliorate the problem of pendency of cases. Nonetheless, pending cases are at an alarming 47 million today. While the law ministry calls it a “multi-faceted problem”, some of the reasons given by the department are-
Growing awareness among the public about their rights, vacancies of judges, lack of adequate arrangements like infrastructure, etc.2 While this affects the integrity of the Indian judiciary, it also burdens the judges and increases court backlog.
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