'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 (Of the 11 member Commission, including the chairman, 4 (M.N. Venkatachaliah, B.P. Jeevan Reddy, R.S. Sarkaria and Kottapalli Punnayya) were judges of the Supreme Court/High Courts, 2 (Soli J. Sorabjee and K. Parasaran) are advocates, 2 (P.A.Sangma and Sumitra G. Kulkarni) political nominees, 2 (Dr.Subhash C. Kashyap and Dr. Abid Hussain) bureaucrats and just one (C.R. Irani) representative from the media!)
'The Chapter 7 of the Report is titled 'The Judiciary'. This chapter particularly is seriously flawed and distorted. The much needed Judicial Reform issues have not been even touched or these got deleted in the final draft'-Notes by Dr.Subhash C. Kashyap to the REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION TO REVIEW THE WORKING OF THE CONSTITUTION
In a first-of-its-kind report, the (Delhi High) court has tried to arrive at the cost of its operation by considering its budget and the time spent on hearing cases in financial year 2007-08. Last year, the total expenditure incurred by the court was Rs 42.45 crore for 213 working days. “The average cost of listing each case before a judge worked out to Rs 1,297 and the average court expenditure per minute was Rs 6,327 or Rs 19,93,180 for each working day” the report prepared after doing cost analysis by the high court for the year 2007-08 said.
“This expenditure excluded the time spent by the judges dictating reserved judgments in the chambers and preparing the cases for the next day as well as the time spent for correcting and signing the order in those 64 odd cases listed each day,” the report said. AGENCIES
-Reproduced from Times of India, February 11, 2009, Pg 11
The average amount of money paid in bribes by a household in India in the past 12 months was maximum in Judiciary (Rs. 3,817) as compared to other sectors.
-TI's Global Corruption Barometer 2006
Addressing a batch of subordinate court Judges in a refresher course organized by the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy, Hon'ble Mr. Justice K.T.Thomas, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India said, " people in Mumbai were seeking not the assistance of law courts to settle the disputes but the help of the mafia. These, be said, were distant hoof beat of a forthcoming danger and do not mistake the hoofs for those of Zebras, but they are the sounds of incoming militancy of horses".
Fake encounters have been a routine affair with the police; a sort of short cut to the long and cumbersome Kafkaesque-like legal process of this country. -Lieutenant General Eric A Vas PVSM (retd), No Excuses: Chinks in the army's armour,November 29, 2005. http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/nov/29vas.htm
"If longevity of cases continued, people would resort to extra-judicial measures."-Former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam
"Judiciary cannot escape blame for delayed justice that is fraught with the risk of promoting the lynch mob phenomenon."-President of India, Pratibha Patil, at a seminar on judicial reforms
“ While a litigant has one life, litigation transcends generations”-President Of India Smt. Pratibha Patil
-Times Of India Dt. August 1, 2010
"As a citizen of this country and as a lawyer who had practiced for many decades, it is a matter of agony if there is even a whisper of an allegation against a judicial officer … But the fact is that allegations against judicial officers are becoming a reality. One Chief Justice has said that only 20 per cent of the judges are corrupt. Another judge has lamented that there are no internal procedures to look into the allegations. Therefore, the necessity of a mechanism is being emphasized by the judges themselves. Then the question arises as to how this mechanism would be brought about and as to who would bring it. The fact of the matter is that the judiciary is the only unique institution that has no accountability to the people in a democracy. In this overall context, it is absolutely essential to involve outside elements in the process of judicial accountability." -Speaker of Lok Sabha, Miera Kumar
"The justice delivery system has reached its nadir"-Former Chief Justice of India, Y. K. Sabharwal
“India is the only democracy in the world where MPs decide their own salaries, judges appoint themselves and the Lok Sabha runs its own channel,”- Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee
“Rs. 20000 dispute is settled after 33 years” - Times Of India Dt. 27/10/2008
“After 40 years and Death of Litigants, family wins case” - Times Of India Dt. 8/12/2009
'Lawyers are acused of employing delaying methods, but no lawyer can succeed if the court refuses an adjournment.'-'How long before justice comes?' by HD Shourie, TNIE of 04 Dec 2004.
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, TNIE of 20 Dec 2004
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
I stand by what I have said in my Affidavit and I have served the sentence which the Supreme Court imposed on me. Anybody who thinks that the punishment for my supposed 'crime' was a symbolic one day in prison and a fine of two thousand rupees, is wrong. The punishment began over a year ago when notice was issued to me to appear personally in Court over a ludicrous charge which the Supreme Court itself held should never have been entertained. In India, everybody knows that as far as the legal system is concerned, the process is part of the punishment. -Statement by Arundhati Roy,7Mar 02; http://www.narmada.org/sc.contempt/aroy.stmt.mar7.2002.html; responding to the orders of the apex court in Contempt Petition (crl.)10 of 2001 (available at http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/qrydisp.asp?tfnm=18299)
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?
'The great tides and currents which engulf the rest of men, do not turn aside in their course and pass the Judges by.' -Justice Cardozo
'Judges appointing judges is bad enough in itself; judges judging judges is worse.'-Rajya Sabha member E.M.S Natchiappan, heading the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law and Justice
A thousand times more crimes have been committed in the name of love than in the name of hate.
-Constantin Demiris in Sydney Sheldon's The other side of midnight.
( I might modify it thus: A thousand times more crimes have been committed in the name of justice than otherwise!)
'The Chapter 7 of the Report is titled 'The Judiciary'. This chapter particularly is seriously flawed and distorted. The much needed Judicial Reform issues have not been even touched or these got deleted in the final draft'-Notes by Dr.Subhash C. Kashyap to the REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION TO REVIEW THE WORKING OF THE CONSTITUTION
In a first-of-its-kind report, the (Delhi High) court has tried to arrive at the cost of its operation by considering its budget and the time spent on hearing cases in financial year 2007-08. Last year, the total expenditure incurred by the court was Rs 42.45 crore for 213 working days. “The average cost of listing each case before a judge worked out to Rs 1,297 and the average court expenditure per minute was Rs 6,327 or Rs 19,93,180 for each working day” the report prepared after doing cost analysis by the high court for the year 2007-08 said.
“This expenditure excluded the time spent by the judges dictating reserved judgments in the chambers and preparing the cases for the next day as well as the time spent for correcting and signing the order in those 64 odd cases listed each day,” the report said. AGENCIES
-Reproduced from Times of India, February 11, 2009, Pg 11
The average amount of money paid in bribes by a household in India in the past 12 months was maximum in Judiciary (Rs. 3,817) as compared to other sectors.
-TI's Global Corruption Barometer 2006
Addressing a batch of subordinate court Judges in a refresher course organized by the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy, Hon'ble Mr. Justice K.T.Thomas, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India said, " people in Mumbai were seeking not the assistance of law courts to settle the disputes but the help of the mafia. These, be said, were distant hoof beat of a forthcoming danger and do not mistake the hoofs for those of Zebras, but they are the sounds of incoming militancy of horses".
Fake encounters have been a routine affair with the police; a sort of short cut to the long and cumbersome Kafkaesque-like legal process of this country. -Lieutenant General Eric A Vas PVSM (retd), No Excuses: Chinks in the army's armour,November 29, 2005. http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/nov/29vas.htm
"If longevity of cases continued, people would resort to extra-judicial measures."-Former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam
"Judiciary cannot escape blame for delayed justice that is fraught with the risk of promoting the lynch mob phenomenon."-President of India, Pratibha Patil, at a seminar on judicial reforms
“ While a litigant has one life, litigation transcends generations”-President Of India Smt. Pratibha Patil
-Times Of India Dt. August 1, 2010
"As a citizen of this country and as a lawyer who had practiced for many decades, it is a matter of agony if there is even a whisper of an allegation against a judicial officer … But the fact is that allegations against judicial officers are becoming a reality. One Chief Justice has said that only 20 per cent of the judges are corrupt. Another judge has lamented that there are no internal procedures to look into the allegations. Therefore, the necessity of a mechanism is being emphasized by the judges themselves. Then the question arises as to how this mechanism would be brought about and as to who would bring it. The fact of the matter is that the judiciary is the only unique institution that has no accountability to the people in a democracy. In this overall context, it is absolutely essential to involve outside elements in the process of judicial accountability." -Speaker of Lok Sabha, Miera Kumar
"The justice delivery system has reached its nadir"-Former Chief Justice of India, Y. K. Sabharwal
“India is the only democracy in the world where MPs decide their own salaries, judges appoint themselves and the Lok Sabha runs its own channel,”- Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee
“Rs. 20000 dispute is settled after 33 years” - Times Of India Dt. 27/10/2008
“After 40 years and Death of Litigants, family wins case” - Times Of India Dt. 8/12/2009
'Lawyers are acused of employing delaying methods, but no lawyer can succeed if the court refuses an adjournment.'-'How long before justice comes?' by HD Shourie, TNIE of 04 Dec 2004.
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, TNIE of 20 Dec 2004
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
I stand by what I have said in my Affidavit and I have served the sentence which the Supreme Court imposed on me. Anybody who thinks that the punishment for my supposed 'crime' was a symbolic one day in prison and a fine of two thousand rupees, is wrong. The punishment began over a year ago when notice was issued to me to appear personally in Court over a ludicrous charge which the Supreme Court itself held should never have been entertained. In India, everybody knows that as far as the legal system is concerned, the process is part of the punishment. -Statement by Arundhati Roy,7Mar 02; http://www.narmada.org/sc.contempt/aroy.stmt.mar7.2002.html; responding to the orders of the apex court in Contempt Petition (crl.)10 of 2001 (available at http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/qrydisp.asp?tfnm=18299)
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?
'The great tides and currents which engulf the rest of men, do not turn aside in their course and pass the Judges by.' -Justice Cardozo
'Judges appointing judges is bad enough in itself; judges judging judges is worse.'-Rajya Sabha member E.M.S Natchiappan, heading the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law and Justice
A thousand times more crimes have been committed in the name of love than in the name of hate.
-Constantin Demiris in Sydney Sheldon's The other side of midnight.
( I might modify it thus: A thousand times more crimes have been committed in the name of justice than otherwise!)
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