The judiciary’s impact needs urgent assessment

Source: Hindustan Times dated 20.03.2019

Article by G. S. Bajpai, Chairperson, Centre for Criminology and Victimology, National Law University, Delhi.

The number of cases decided by Indian courts may not necessarily reflect the quantum of justice people get

How much justice do the people in India get through courts? Despite a gigantic set up of judiciary, with an annual budget of nearly ~2,000 crore, justice remains elusive for the people. Even in cases in which justice seems to have been done, the parties in question hold a contrary view. People’s, and the official, understanding of justice remain quite distinct. We do not know justice in measurable terms.

There is hardly any consensus over the performance indicators of a court. The number of cases decided by courts may not necessarily reflect the quantum of justice people tend to get. Nor does it convincingly suggest their efficacy. The number of people with unmet justice needs in India is growing significantly. A 2018 World Justice Project report put the number at three billion. And the Rule of Law Index places India at 63 out of 113 countries. On the components of human rights, security and order and criminal justice, the score is dismally low.

There are about three crore pending cases in the country, affecting some 30 crore people. Accounting for the unreported and unrecorded cases, this number may go up by another 20 crore. Besides, a declining trend in civil litigation in India is cause of worry as this suggests that people are not turning to courts for their justice needs in civil matters.

The dissatisfaction of people is visible from the rising crime rates. A Daksh study on access to justice in India observed that 70% of those who faced disputes in the past five years approached the courts, but the formal judicial system is still not the most preferred form of conflict redressal for most Indians.

As justice in India remains largely unmeasured, it’s non-existent for many. Measurement of justice is emerging as a powerful tool to ensure quality of justice. Fraught with structural and functional issues of a fundamental nature, the Indian judiciary has largely failed to create an effective research and development approach to its performance.

We have five core issues. First, how does a law impact its stakeholders? The judicial decisions are made on the basis of the larger consequences and effects they intend to create. Though the objectives of a law are prescribed in its structure, there is no mechanism to know if it is effective. On the Supreme Court’s direction, the Centre has formed a committee to study the resources needed when a new legislation or an amendment is introduced.

Second, what is the impact of the Supreme Court’s decisions? The SC decisions intend to cause a specific as well as general impact on the persons concerned, institutions and society. There is a general impression that the compliance of SC decisions is not fully followed. There is no mechanism to gauge its exact consequences.

Third, how does an amendment in a law impact its stakeholders? The section 498 A of the Indian Penal Code and Section 138 in Negotiable Instrument Act triggered almost a docket explosion as thousands of cases added to the case list. Again, the lawmakers are clueless about the likely impact of an amendment in terms of manpower and finance that a State might require to effectively implement it.

Fourth, does a law fulfil public expectations or not? For instance, enforcement of social legislation in India, by and large, has been unsuccessful. The laws related to juvenile, women, welfare, domestic violence, dowry, etc could not meet the public expectations.

Fifth, we do not know much about litigation behaviour and change in the country. Millions of litigants approach various courts but no official information about their needs, experience, and trends is recorded.

To overcome this kind of situation, the ministry of justice in the United Kingdom has developed judicial impact test, which takes care of these issues. It is time India launches a judicial impact assessment system too.