Former Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi might have created a mild flutter in the public mind by saying, with facts and figures, that the Indian Judiciary is ramshackled and such a system ill suits a nation aiming to lord over a five-trillion economy. Justice Gogoi is right. Question is, who cares if the nation goes to the dogs. Indian judiciary has, over the years, piled up cases in a way that the judicial system is suffocating. Justice delayed is justice denied. Judges are getting their salaries and lawyers their fees without hassles This is fine with them. With the judiciary sitting pretty over a backlog of four crore cases, fact is also that no one seems concerned about bringing in judicial reforms – a much needed exercise for a judiciary that needs to deliver. When Indian systems are crumbling, the bureaucrats are getting their salaries. When the banking system is going for a toss due to the pile up of bad loans, banking executives are not affected. They also have the liberty to go on a nation-wide strike and paralyse the banking system for days, at the drop of a hat, and to even demand more benefits.
Leaders of the democratic system have the luxury of coming to power for five years and then sit back and enjoy the spoils of power for another five years even if they are not re-elected. They evince little interest in having a long-term vision for the nation. They do not think of reforms or effecting corrective steps until the system reaches a breaking point. An attempt at reforms in the farming sector is facing stiff resistance from segments of the farming community but that is because the stakeholders – the farmers were never consulted to get their opinion. Despite being in power for nearly seven years, the Modi government has not touched up on various sectors like the judiciary for meaningful and timely changes to rid them of the flab, corruption and vested interests. Democracy’s problem, unlike the era of the royals, is that those who lead from the front fail to adopt a forward-looking approach. Vote-fetching for the next polls so as to remain in power is their sole objective. Curiously, a top politician like Sharad Pawar was quick to express “shock” at the state of the judiciary only when Justice Gogoi made a public statement. Men like Pawar should know these big issues are killing a nation, without being drawn out of slumber and putting sense into their heads. What India waits for is a new kind of leadership to cure the nation of its ills. Old hats have outlived their expiry dates.
