New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday said one of the reasons of long delays in adjudication of cases in courts is the “culture of seeking adjournments as a norm” and judiciary is making efforts to curb the practice.
Highlighting the pendency of cases in various courts of the country, he said Indian legal system is marked by long delays and some of the reasons for it are infrastructure gaps and considerable vacancies, particularly in subordinate courts.
“India’s judiciary is respected across the world as an upholder of justice for the defenceless. It is also true that our judges are overburdened by the sheer volume of cases. As a consequence, the Indian legal system is marked by long delays.
“There is a backlog of 3.3 crore cases in various courts of the country. Of these, 2.84 crore cases are in the subordinate courts. Another 43 lakh are in the High Courts and about 58,000 in the Supreme Court,” the President said at the inaugural function of a conference being organised by the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA).
“There is a culture of seeking adjournments as a norm rather than an exception. New thinking is gradually taking place on frequent adjournments. The judiciary is making sincere efforts to curb this practice,” he said while expressing confidence that the entire legal fraternity will resolve not to seek adjournments except in absolutely unavoidable circumstances.
Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra released the e-journal of SCAORA and said it was the time that young lawyers, who are technically sound, should be allowed to argue in courts and old ones should leave the room for them. Speaking on the topic ‘Technology, Training and Infrastructure: Key to Speedy Justice’ and ‘The changing face of legal education in India’, the CJI said technology enhances the quality of work by expediting routine cases where testimonies can be recorded technically and Indian courts are doing so.
He added that technological resources can aid in strengthening judicial data base. Attorney General K K Venugopal, who was also present at the event, requested the advocates not to go on strike saying they were in an honourable profession. (PTI)
