In 2014, the Delhi high court granted divorce to an 85-year-old man after a legal battle spanning 32 years that ruined all hopes of resuming a married life.
“This is an unfortunate case where the parties have spent more than half of their (married) lives in the alleys of the courts,” the high court had said, expressing anguish over the slow process of justice.
But instead of being an exception, this case is part of a larger malaise afflicting the Indian judicial system.
“Delay in disposal of cases, not only creates disillusionment amongst the litigants, but also undermines the capability of the system to impart justice in an efficient and effective manner,” former Supreme Court judge BN Agrawal had said.
At times, delay in justice delivery can have serious consequences as has been witnessed in the case of a minor rape victim from Bareilly who gave birth to an unwanted child after being denied permission to abort her foetus.
Vacancies of judges
With about 30 million cases pending in various courts across the country, Indian judiciary is struggling to clear a huge backlog. If on an average three persons are involved in a case, then there are at least 90 million people waiting for justice. Bulk of these cases is pending in subordinate courts thronged by poor litigants — who bear the brunt of the snail-paced system.Bulk of these cases is pending in subordinate courts thronged by poor litigants – who bear the brunt of the snail-paced system.
Of late, the problem has been compounded by the unprecedented increase in judicial vacancies across the three tiers of Judiciary.
Official figures show, the SC is short of five judges, 24 HCs have 464 vacant judges post and 4,166 at the subordinate courts. Two more SC judges are due to retire this month.
Appointment to the Supreme Court and high courts are done by a collegium of the top court. But judges in the subordinate courts are appointed by the state high court.
DefenderJurist 