In 2011, trial to take three years not 15

Whatever plan these law makers make,all useless unless Government remove some Judges who has no common sense,they just deliver justice on basis of gender wihtout any merits. Many common man has better common sense and head over their shoulder than these judges.

NEW DELHI: In a move to end the “once a litigant always a litigant” curse, the Centre is examining the first draft of a blueprint that promises to reduce the average pendency of a case from 15 years at present to a mere three years over the next two years.

The ambitious legal reforms will look to setting a certain time-frame for a trial court to deal with a case and could also look at streamlining the appeals process. The reforms are expected to significantly change the lives of nearly 10 crore litigants involved one way or another in 2.6 crore cases some of which can drag on for decades.

With trials often being a labyrinthine process with numerous adjournments, law minister M Veerappa Moily had asked Attorney General G E Vahanvati and Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam to use their experience in judiciary to suggest a practical ready-to-use plan of action to help the common litigant who is often deterred from approaching the courts for fear of long pendency.

The first draft of the blueprint for shrinking the litigation time to just three years, prepared by the two top law officers, was recently handed over to the law minister. This draft is expected to form the agenda of national consulation on judicial reforms, scheduled for end-August.

An overall improvement of the justice delivery mechanism would follow if the suggested reform is implemented, official sources said. They explained that once the drastic reduction in the life of a trial court docket happens, it would unburden 16,000-odd judges of a huge pendency allowing them to give more meaning to the term “justice“.

In addition, it would relieve the pressure on jails, overcrowded with lakhs of undertrials, to help improve facilities as they would have to cater to a lesser number of inmates, official sources said.

The Manmohan Singh government, in its second term, has stressed judicial reforms as a focal point. Even in the past, reforms have often been a talking point with previous regimes which seldom had the desire or the willingness to prod the judiciary into accepting reforms given the fact that courts are seen to be armed with public trust.

With cases of jusicial misconduct also emerging, the law ministry has moved to including the judiciary within the ambit of a law requiring judges to declare their assets.

After the Judges Assets Bill, Moily further opened the reform bag and intiated the groundwork for the Judicial Accountability Bill, which could provide a mechanism to rein in errant judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court.

But, the pendency of 2.6 crore cases in the trial courts directly affecting 10 crore people and their family members, virtually egged the law minister to give priority to ground level reforms in the judiciary.

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