The Ease of Justice

'While modern India was built around the goal of removing the disparities in the society, the reality is that, today, only a small percentage of the population can approach the justice delivery system, when in need. Majority of the people suffer in silence, lacking awareness and necessary means.'

The CJI Mr. N. V. Ramana is known to have said so while addressing the first All India District Legal Service Authorities (DLSAs) meet on Saturday, 30th July 2022. It is learnt that Prime Minister also was present during the event, who highlighted on a new theme of 'Ease of Justice'. The CJI is known have highlighted on the district judiciary, for that coming first into the contact with the people who need justice.

Since the structural base matters, let us see what will be needed. My point is that the focus of the district judiciary should not remain limited to the head quarters of respective districts. It should be made to reach down to the village level.

I have already suggested for providing the magistrate services in each town and village of India. The quantity of the facilities needed and to be deployed will differ depending upon the size of local population and therefore different methods may need to be adopted for responding to the diverse conditions in our nation. See the page for 'Village Level Services'. That is the very reason I have suggested for changing the nation India from a 'Union of States' to the 'Union of Districts' and doing the Government Process Re-engineering (or GPR as its short form). I view the term 'government' as the totality of the mechanisms and the means of governing the nation and not merely the executive arm of the State.

Another point is about the education being imparted in the subject of civil studies. During my school years, we were required to study the eligibility criteria for the positions of the President, the Prime Minister and the public representatives. My question is as how many citizens need to know this from as early as school years, when the Election Commission is available for taking care of those things. The children need to be informed and taught as whom and where they should approach for getting the help during their childhood and afterwards during their adulthood, for getting the justice. Our concept of education itself seems wrong and so our education system turns meaningless. That is a different subject of discussion. However, you may read my suggestions on the Education system in a pdf file available in My Download Folder. 

 

The 1st point in the said GPR mentioned above is that the middlemen lawyers in the courts should be eliminated. The litigants should be made to plead their case themselves. Why should the judges need the middlemen lawyers (i.e. the advocates on behalf of the litigants) for understanding the cases and viewing the circumstances in the context of the applicable law ? This question needs to be be answered. All judges are qualified and have the experience of working as lawyers (advocates in the courts) before getting appointed as the judges. If in that role, they can understand the cases of the litigants, without any middlemen, they should be able to understand the cases of the litigants without any middlemen, even after getting appointed as the judges. If they need any assistants for cross thinking or the like, during and after the hearing, such provisions can be made in the law, which will allow them to hire the ones who would have been empanelled by the judiciary, for that purpose and that the judiciary will pay those assistants for their services. In that way, the middlemen lawyers can be eliminated. That will be a great step forward in improving upon the Ease of Justice.  

The 2nd point in the said GPR mentioned above is of introducing the Mobile Magistrates in the Field or the Visiting Magistrates in the judiciary. This will be somewhat similar to the visiting faculty in the academies. This concept will help provide the magistrate hearing service in a cluster of neighbour villages, on rotation. They can visit various villages as and when required, needless to say with the police protection. In the urban area, which is generally more crowded, with the likeliness of occurring more number of offenses, the Mobile Magistrates can be deployed in field, i.e. along the city roads, along the highways and on numerous railway stations too. Such practice will help in faster redressal of the cases.

We have huge number of lawyers, but the shortage of the magistrates and the judges. This is not a good situation. If there is shortage of the manpower (the number of magistrates and the judges), the symptom points to the lacunae in new appointments. So the 3rd point in the said GPR mentioned above is of separating the process of new appointments from the executive arm and building it up within the judiciary itself.


All such points mentioned above will help turn the situation into the better. It is impossible to elaborate all features in this short blog-post. But these basic thoughts may be considered for causing the improvement or the said 'Ease of Justice'.

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Last updated on 2022.08.01. (First uploaded here on 2022.08.01.)
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