Judicial Reforms – My Take

I was going through a post of my friend Shailendra. And I tried to put few suggestions. While commenting there, I realized that I wrote enough that it can be transformed into a post. So here are my suggestions:-

1. Judiciary takes lot of holidays. For eg Jabalpur High Court will take 88 holidays in 2011. 52 Sundays, 12 Saturdays, summer holidays from May 23 to June 17, winter holidays from 26 December to 31 December and other festival holidays. Sometimes I think is our Judiciary running a school? When there are so many pending cases, I do not find any justification for so many holidays. These should be curtailed. If you want to know holidays that Supreme Court of India takes click here.

2. Many a times it has been observed that judges are not punctual and sometimes lawyers come late. This should be strictly handled and stringent action should be taken against the erring judges and/or lawyers. This will help in ensuring that court’s time is utilized well.

3. The time required to complete a particular kind of case should be pre-defined and it should only be extended on reasonable reasons. Judges must ensure that trial follows the time limits. Also, there should be time limit for a particular hearing of a case, say 1 hour in each hearing.

4. There are many cases which have a similar point or are of similar nature. They should be clubbed and a single judgement can be used for them. Similar recommendations as far as I remember was made by some Law Commission also.

5. Old cases like the one you mentioned should be separated from the rest of the cases and should get prioritized handling or could be assigned to special tribunal to decide the matter without any in-court hearing unless absolutely necessary.

6. Since judiciary doesn’t have much time arguments in courts should not be prolonged and until and unless absolutely necessary oral argument should not happen. In place of that written legal notes and arguments can be submitted to the court. The judge should be empowered to decide which cases are of absolute importance and should then allow the oral arguments. Cases like interpretation of Constitution can be regarded in this category.

7. Laws should written in very clear and specific manner. “Notwithstanding anything detailed herein and blah blah…” only adds to confusion and creates loop-holes. The existing laws should be written so that a lay man could interpret it. It will reduce the number of cases that reach the court and get involved in the cycle of interpretations and counter-interpretations.

8. Most of the cases filed under civil code can be transferred to tribunals and should reach courts in case of question of interpretation or as appeals.

9. Similarly, judgements should also be clear and should not leave any questions of interpretations.

10. Bars should be severely warned against going on strikes during the working hours and days of the courts.

11. Latest technology can be of great help for the courts. Use of video conferencing, etc can help the time of court while waiting for government officials, MPs, MLAs, ministers and others to come and give witness which most of the time leads to adjournments. This way even if they are ill they can take time out to be present for an hour for the hearing as I above mentioned time of a hearing should also be reduced to say 1 hour in my point 3 above.

12. Information Technology can be used to prepare a database to store cases, judgements, etc and can be used for immediate help in cases which look similar to a previous case which was solved. A good reporting tool can immensely help in this. IT if used intelligently can create wonders for the improving the productivity and efficiency of the cases.

Reforms in Anti-Defection Laws – Recommendations of Various Committees and Commissions

The Anti-Defection Law was passed in 1985 through the 52nd Amendment to the Constitution, which added the Tenth Schedule to the Indian Constitution. The main intent of the law was to combat “the evil of political defections”. There are several issues in relation to the working of this law which need to be discussed. Does the law, while deterring defections, also lead to suppression of healthy intra-party debate and dissent? Does it restrict representatives from voicing the concerns of their voters in opposition to the official party position? Should the decision on defections be judged by the Speaker who is usually a member of the ruling party or coalition, or should it be decided by an external neutral body such as the Election Commission? Some of the recommendations are listed below:-

[Book Review] Introduction to the Constitution of India by Dr. Durga Das Basu

Introduction to the Constitution of India is a fantastic book on the subject of Indian Constitution and presents a wonderful commentary on the same. It deals with everything and nothing substantial is left out. The language is simply beautiful which is least expected from an Indian academic author at university level.

Indian constitution is the largest written constitution of the world and it is difficult to read and understand everything. However, D.D. Basu has written this masterpiece to make things easy for us. I am an engineer and to understand the legal terms is a tedious job, but this book with its set of examples makes it easier to understand the Constitution.

It presents the Indian Constitution in a pleasant way and defines it philosophy in such a manner that you feel proud of it being an Indian. However, at points where you feel Indian Constitution lacks something he is also critical of the same or explains why that is the case and you again start feeling that it is fine.

After so much of trouble that the country had been facing – Anna Hazare’s fast unto death campaign, Black Money case, 2G Spectrum, CWG Scam case – which had lead me to feel devastated and having lost my faith in the system and the law of the land, this book comes as a refresher and bring back the hope that Indian Constitution will act as a check on the government and other persons and will make everything better by asserting itself.

It is necessary read for everyone. Whether you are a lawyer or not does not matter. Every citizen of the country should read it to know the Constitution and his or her rights.

Constitution and Law

I was having a discussion with few of my friends and as the discussion progress my frustration grew so stronger that I had to stand up and say SHUT UP!! I don’t know what we were discussing when suddenly the discussion went on Constitution and Law and I was ashamed on their ignorance about the subject. They were confusing the meanings of the two words. It would have been okay, if my friends would have discussed it normally but their attitude was like “I Know All” kind. We all can’t know everything, there are certain restrictions that we all should be aware of and not ashamed. I can’t score 100%ile in CAT and I know that . But having a wrong attitude not only shows ones unworthiness but also makes you stand stupid.

However, after thinking for a while I realized that there would be many people who might have this confusion. So, here I am trying to explain the two terms and the difference between them in the simplest of the terms. Though it is a vast topic. But I will stick to the explanation of terms and the differences in as simplest form as possible.