from: Ravindran
P M <raviforjustice@gmail.com>
to: cji.office@sci.nic.in
date: Jun 3,
2021, 5:54 AM
subject: Frivolous
litigation, delays and docket management
Comp-cji-delays n frivolous litigation-030621 Date: 03
Jun 2021
For the personal attention of the Chief Justice of India
1. My personal experiences with the judiciary and quasi
judicial organisations have convinced me that if only the judiciary performed
10 percent satisfactorily there are enough right thinking citizens in this
country who would have ensured that the
law and order situation in the country would have been comparable to the best
of countries that boast the rule of law as the hallmark of their
governance.
2. Before I narrate my grievance, let me reproduce a few
quotes pertaining to the judiciary.
2.1. Justice is an intrinsic human need. We suffer much
privation but we cannot suffer being wronged. Absence of justice, we must not
forget, is one of the causes of crime.
-'Needed high speed legal redressal'-Aravind Kumar,
Jurist and lawyer, Pioneer, Kochi,01 Aug 2006
2.2. When we transformed from subjects to citizens, we
forfeited our rights it seems, since what happens in our country now in the
name of law is often rank injustice.
-'Human rights, the genesis of justice is from religion'
under 'faith line' by Renuka Narayanan, The New Indian Express of 20 Dec 2004
2.3.'Lawyers are accused of employing delaying methods,
but no lawyer can succeed if the court refuses an adjournment.'
-'How long before justice comes?' by HD Shourie, The New
Indian Express of 04 Dec 2004.
2.4. For more years than I can imagine we lawyers have
been using our lawyering skills not in a profession but in a game, in which the
more skilful (which tends to become also the
more costly), will invariably win.
- Fali S Nariman in his book 'India's Legal system: Can
it be saved?
2.5. “Thus, corruption in judiciary is the greatest enemy
to the Constitution and judiciary must also initiate drastic measures in order
to control corruption in various forms,”
- Justice Subramaniam, 'Corrupt public servants must be
declared anti-nationals: High Court' The Hindu of MARCH 29, 2019
2.6. The judicial system of the country, far from being
an instrument for protecting the rights of the weak and oppressed, has become
an instrument of harassment of the common people of the country.
-People's Convention of Judicial Reforms and
Accountability held at ISI, New Delhi on 10-11 Mar
2007.(http://www.judicialreforms.org/)
1.7. An extra constitutional, unannounced and invisible
emergency is being imposed through our courts and civil society has to be alert
to this and react effectively.
-Adv Kaleeswaram Raj, 'Vidhi prathilomakaram thanne'
Mathrubhumi (Malayalam Daily) of 10 Nov 2011
1.8. 'Judicial system has not been able to meet even the
modest expectations of the society. Its
delays and costs are frustrating, its processes slow and uncertain. People are pushed to seek recourse to
extra-legal methods for relief. Trial
system both on the civil and criminal side has utterly broken down.' Also,
'Thus we have arrived at a situation in the judicial administration where
courts are deemed to exist for judges and lawyers and not for the public
seeking justice'.
-Report of The National Commission to Review the Working
of The Constitution
3. Of late, particularly during the pandemic wrecking
havoc, in India, as in the rest of the world, some interferences by the higher
judiciary have become questionable. It has been questioning the Union
Government on almost all aspects of covid management starting with oxygen
supply, hospital bed availability, distribution and pricing of vaccines, care
of poor citizens, orphaned children etc.
Needless to say that the pandemic that is raging now has no precedence and
every government in every part of the world is doing its best on a trial and
error basis. And it is a matter of pride as an Indian that the current
government under Narendra Modi has been the best in managing the crisis. Please
see the Global Leader Approval Tracker at https://morningconsult.com/form/global-leader-approval/.
For your convenience a screenshot of the graph taken at 5 am on 3/6/2021 is
attached.
4. The unfortunate thing is that those who have been
spreading canards and fear mongering about vaccines, lying about the failure of
the Union Government etc have not been taken to task. For example Rahul Gandi,
Priyanka Vadra and Akhilesh Yadav had been criticising the quality of the
vaccines Covishield and Covaxine. Arvind Kejriwal had been exposed for not
utilising the funds allotted for oxygen plants in December 2020 by the Centre.
5. And now comes a bench of judges D Y Chandrachud and M
R Shah claiming that they are unable to attend to important national issues
like covid management due to a spate of frivolous litigation. As per media
reports ('Frivolous cases making institution dysfunctional, delaying matters of
national importance: SC', June 1, 2021 at
https://www.thestatesman.com/india/frivolous-cases-making-institution-dysfunctional-delaying-matters-national-importance-sc-1502970282.html)
As per the report, judge Chandrachud had stated that 95 percent of the cases
listed were frivolous.
6. Now the grievance. Personally I can vouch for the fact
that the majority of the citizens of this country cannot even approach even a
lower court seeking justice because of the inordinate delay and unaffordable
cost. For example, given the clarity of Sec 219 of the IPC, I know that most of
the information commissioners can be sent to jail for 7 years for each of their
wrong decisions. And it should not require more than one session of
hearing to pass the judgement. But I
dare not venture on that path and have to perforce opt to see the law being
subverted with impunity by those very public servants tasked, empowered,
equipped and paid to enforce it. The same is my experience with the Consumer
Protection Act. We always hear people talking of ignorance of laws being the
cause of citizens being cheated but nobody talks of the experience of those who
know sufficient law being cheated by the very public servants tasked,
empowered, equipped and paid to enforce those laws.
7. In the instant case, judge Chadrachud's observation
that 95 percent of the cases listed are frivolous is unacceptable. But, if it
is to be accepted at face value, then it will necessarily follow that there is
something drastically wrong with the docket management even at the level of the
apex court. And that will lead to the conclusion that the apex court has to set
its own house in order before preaching of effectiveness and efficiency of the
Union Government in the management of a pandemic.
8. To conclude, let me list my own findings about the
provisions of our Constitution:
Lawmakers without any prescribed qualifications,
qualities or experience, law enforcers with all the scope for distorting and
manipulating data required to aid decision making, without any accountability
and the law interpreters with all the leeway for making whimsical and wayward
decisions without even the fear of being questioned sums up the gifts of our
Constitution.
Among these three organs of our Constitution the
law-makers are (theoretically, at least) controlled by the people, bureaucracy
(yes, bureaucracy, because without the active support of the bureaucracy no
politician can do any wrong!) and finally the judiciary; the law-enforcers are
also controlled by the law-makers and the judiciary. And then there are the
ears and eyes of the people- the media waiting to sensationalise every news
involving the misdemeanour of these authorities. In spite of such strict
supervision and control all that we can hear these days are about
politician-bureaucrat-underworld nexus even though the fact remains that none,
worth the name, from this unholy nexus have ever been punished by the
holier-than-thou judiciary.
So now think how bad a system can be which is not only
NOT subject to supervision but also kept beyond critical observation. Well
isn’t our judiciary just that? And do I need to recapitulate that quip: power
corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely?
Yours truly
P M Ravindran
att: covid 19-global leader tracker-morningconsult-030621
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