On "Justice Frustrated" and the need to focus on making every day in court more efficient: DAKSH releases book on judicial delays

Any talk of access to justice in India inevitably circles round to the almost perennial, much-lamented issues of case pendency, backlog, and delays in justice delivery. .The criticism of a legal system plagued by endless litigation involving financially-debilitating lawyer's fees and innumerable court appearances is trite..In an effort to bring new learnings on how judicial delays are understood, Bangalore-based civil society organisation DAKSH has released a new book titled Justice Frustrated: The Systemic Impact of Delay in Indian Courts. The books attempts to carve out the reasons for delay and its repercussions on the lives of litigants and society..The book contains chapters authored by Kerala High Court judge, Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar, Senior Advocate SS Naganand, Senior Resident Fellow & Head of Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy Alok Prasanna Kumar as well as Surya Prakash BS and Harish Narasappa of DAKSH. Each of these chapters recounts the authors' experiences working with the delays in the system and/or studying delays..The book departs from traditional analyses of the causes and effects of delays, and uses data analysis in studying its intricacies..Speaking to Bar and Bench, DAKSH fellow and Programme Director Surya Prakash BS explained, ."The traditional narrative on judicial delay has been to view the problem as one of the judiciary alone, but the book looks to shift that narrative to viewing judicial delay as a problem that has a ripple effect on everything and everyone from institutions, corporations, and the government, to individuals and families."Surya Prakash BS.On the objectives of the book, DAKSH co-founder Harish Narasappa says,."The chapters in this book analyse data to understand the impact of judicial delay on various types of litigants - undertrial prisoners, members of the intersex and transgender communities, companies, the government, etc. It also uses data analysis to understand the impact of delay in specific kinds of disputes - land acquisition, labour, arbitration, insolvency and bankruptcy, etc. Some chapters also use innovative analyses to predict the workload of courts in the future and to understand whether merely increasing the number of judges has an impact on reducing delays. The book moves the dialogue on delays significantly forward by focusing on these aspects.".The volume is part of DAKSH's Rule of Law project, initiated to evaluate judicial performance. DAKSH's two earlier publications, State of the Indian Judiciary (2016) and Approaches to Justice in India (2017) were also part of the project, and included studies on case pendency..In an effort to understand the complexities of delays, the new book moves past earlier studies on pendency, including its own, to understand its impact.."... the objective (of the new book) is slightly different. The earlier volumes sought to understand the reasons for the judicial delay and how people seek justice, while the present book looks to understand the impact of the delay."Surya Prakash BS.Even as the COVID-19 pandemic brings the legal system to a "virtual" standstill, forcing many courts to adjudicate urgent cases via video hearings, issues of pendency and judicial delay have been pushed to the fore..As noted by Surya Prakash,."The issues the book highlights are more important now more than ever given the pandemic. While the problems of judicial delay on a regular day itself can be terrible, the impact on people's lives is going to be far more exacerbated with the judiciary functioning at a reduced capacity due to the pandemic. Judicial delays are likely to grow and justice delivery will no doubt be prolonged.".One frequently-cited cause for pendency is the numerous adjournments of proceedings during the course of litigation. Another feature of litigation that spans extensive time-frames is the statutory processes for notice of proceedings, filing of responses, and the like..Narasappa also expressed his views on the extent to which adjournments and statutory processes contribute to judicial delay, in light of the research presented in the book..Describing frequent adjournments of case proceedings as "one of the many causes of delay", he said, ."Cases can be delayed even when there is not a single adjournment, i.e., even if there is some progress in a case at every single hearing, but it takes 5 years to decide the case, that would still constitute a delay."Harish Narasappa.On the topic of processes, Narasappa explained that though they were not an end in itself, they are designed to guarantee justice. However, "This would be absent if there is no end in sight to processes", he added..He further noted, ."The timeframes and processes themselves do not cause delay. While there is a need to look at some of these processes to simplify them in this age of advanced technology, following the processes in a timebound fashion is not the root cause of delay. It is the uncertainty of each judicial hearing coupled with the inability of courts to adhere to timelines that is the problem and the cause of delay. Processes are required for justice, but processes also can evolve and improve over time.".Explaining how the quality of 'timely' justice could be ensured within the existent framework of laws, Narasappa remarked:.".. we need to ensure judges' time is used properly and efficiently. There is a need to focus on making every day in the court more efficient. Only then can we expect real timely justice."Harish Narasappa