YOUR HONOUR!

Indian Railways are struggling with nearly 30% vacancies in the cadre of track maintainers. We are also short of 20% Loco Drivers over the sanctioned strength. Indeed, we are short of manpower by the given yardsticks in almost all areas. But, we run ALL the trains with 90% punctuality, we carry all the goods cheaper than any other mode and our safety is improving every day. We add new trains every year, run specials during festivals and holidays without additional resources. Our online ticketing is rated to be the best in the world. Our stations and trains are cleaner than ever, quality of food is improving and so is the passenger satisfaction across the country. True, we lack resources for expanding our network, but we do our assigned job well and without complaining.

Yet, we find that the media, political parties and public at large are ready to accept backlog of cases in our courts on account of vacancies! Surely, you do not subscribe to that view. Vacancies can never be zero. I read in the newspapers, after the NJAC judgement, that the real problem of the judiciary is vacancies – 30% of late. But the pendency is older than this recent spurt in vacancies, which has worsened due to the NJAC issue. I have learnt that twenty-four High Courts together sit on a pile of some forty-five lakh pending cases. Appeals in criminal cases against conviction are waiting to be heard for as long as thirty years, more than the maximum sentence in the cases. I am certain all this cannot be explained away by vacancies alone. The only way to overcome this problem is that those, who are in the saddle, work a little harder to compensate for the vacancies. All of us do that in government, public sector or private enterprises. We work longer hours till late evening, on weekends, forego personal leave and certainly do not go on summer vacations. Even Secretaries to the Government of India are now required to punch-in their attendance sharp at nine AM every day. Surely, working longer hours is not anathema to you, My Lordships!

I often get judgements and awards from courts for compliance within two months, one month, or even a fortnight. I have no option but to burn the midnight oil and fulfil the orders in the judgement. How I wish I could one day beseech or request, though certainly not order Your Lordships, to deliver a judgement in two weeks since an important developmental project is held up, a contract is getting annulled or an international agreement is at stake! But, that would be a contempt of court, I guess. Surely, the judiciary is entitled to its independence and autonomy, surely it can rightfully claim non-interference and neutrality, but it ought to know that like other organs of state, the legislature and the executive, the judiciary too is paid out of taxes and that it is ultimately answerable to the paymaster, the common citizen of the country. The common person is increasingly getting restless. She wants good governance, she wants delivery of goods and services and above all she wants a just society. And, she wants them quick. Judiciary is answerable to her for its own share of deliveries.

How does the common citizen force change in governance? He votes. He votes a party out and brings in a new government. He gets the opportunity to do so every five years. Political parties, after having fooled the masses and after their repeated failures have realised that the public means business. They have yielded to a change in discourse from caste, religion and freebies to development and performance. How does a common person pull up the executive? How does she seek relief from exploitation and unfairness? She goes to a court of law. Leave aside the delays for a moment, she still hopes for justice, solace and compensation. What is important is that she has a door, which she can knock. But, were does she go, when the same door is closed to her for thirty years in her face? Whom does she implore, when the very institution she implores, has queued up lakhs of relief seekers ahead of her?

This frustration with the judiciary has led to abject hopelessness in the masses and ridicule of the process of law. Undertrials and appellants spend the best years of their lives in incarceration, people resort to coercion and murder for solving land and property disputes and an occasional dejected one commits suicide. We cannot have a referendum for judicial reforms. Indeed, we have never had any referendum in the country on any issue. The only exercise closest to a referendum is the General Election. Nearly two decades of deliberations in civil society, enlightened discussions, opinions of retired legal luminaries the likes of Your Honour, administrative reports and Parliamentary debates resulted in the first ever legislation, a Constitutional Amendment, that was passed unanimously and also ratified by twenty States. We cannot have a louder voice of the people of India than this. Yet it has not been heeded! Yes, Your Honour! We have heard your voice asserting judicial independence and autonomy. But, have you heard ours?

Any organisation works with hierarchies, which are arranged in the fashion of a pyramid. The senior levels have fewer positions than the lower ones. Indeed, the entire supervision and management structure follows this dictum. Yet we have a State in the country, which has an inverted pyramid in the judiciary. There are one hundred sixty High Court Judges and just seventy-five district Judges! Yet, this High Court has the highest number of cases pending within its portals.

All organs of the State have undergone reforms and infusion of technology. Most departments of the government and companies in the private sector have become leaner as a result. The judiciary too has had its share of modernisation and IT embrace. But, the courts work at the same pace, actually slower than ever. One of the High Courts of the country has, on the 17^th October, invited bids for supply of iPhone6S for use by the Hon’ble Judges. This model of phone was launched in September, i.e. just a month ago. We do not mind Our Lordships owning the latest gadget in the world costing sixty thousand Rupees each, not even if the poor people of India pay for it. But, we want a return on that investment. Please give us that.

We have all heard Justice Ruma Pal, who candidly showed the mirror to the judiciary by enumerating its seven sins – turning a blind eye to a colleague’s indiscretion, hypocrisy, secrecy in appointment of judges, plagiarism and prolixity, verbose judgements, personal arrogance, professional arrogance and nepotism.* We have all heard you, Your Lordships! You want total independence and autonomy. We agree with that too. You also said that you will improve the system from within. We know from experience that insulated systems are the most difficult to change and often a change promised from within is more of a chimera than an action plan. Yet we trust you for this time once again. But, remember, the outcome of the reforms will be judged by the people of India and not by the government or the legislature. Next time, the call for change may not take the legislative route.

(http://www.rediff.com/news/column/ruma-pal-former-supreme-court-judge-slams-higher-judiciary/20111115.htm)

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Views of the lone dissenting judge (out of a bench of five) , Justice Chelameswar can be seen here:

http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/NJAC-Verdict-Excerpts-of-Justice-Chelameswars-Opinion-Against-SC-Judgement/2015/10/19/article3087047.ece

'Indian democracy cannot be a tyranny of the unelected': Arun Jaitley's 'alternative view' on NJAC verdict:

http://m.firstpost.com/politics/indian-democracy-cannot-be-a-tyranny-of-the-unelected-arun-jaitleys-alternative-view-on-the-njac-verdict-2473218.html

Usurping Parliament’s power: Instead of aborting NJAC, Supreme Court should have given it a fair chance to succeed: Abhishek Manu Singhvi's views:

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/candid-corner/usurping-parliaments-power-instead-of-aborting-njac-supreme-court-should-have-given-it-a-fair-chance-to-succeed/