REASONS FOR DELAY IN COURTS

It is now beyond doubt that our judicial system is too slow for a common man to really get justice in true sense of the word. Statistics have revealed that nearly 50% of cases pending in various courts are by or against governments. Thus govt is the cause of heavy pendency of cases in courts and resultant inconvenience to citizenry. It therefore indicates that the officers of the governments are not taking decisions properly in tune with letter and spirit of laws and rules.

The govt officers usually take decisions not as per rules and laws, but under extraneous considerations and pressures. They just try to cloth their unlawful decisions with the legal cover, by misinterpreting rules and other mischievous methods. The aggrieved person is not heard. He is humiliated, harassed and tortured mentally and emotionally. He is left with no option but to legally fight out. The officer has to fight the battle at the cost of public money. He has nothing to lose and hence he indulges in arrogance of power of the chair. The common man has to fight with his meager means as to money, knowledge, time etc.

In this case, it would be important to quote extract of judgement of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Lucknow Development Authority v/s M. K. Gupta (1994) 1 SCC 243 at 262-263, which reads as under:


“…….. Harassment of a common man by public authorities is socially abhorring and legally impermissible. It may harm him personally but the injury to society is far more grievous. Crime and corruption thrive and prosper in the society due to lack of public resistance. Nothing is more damaging than the feeling of helplessness. An ordinary citizen instead of complaining and fighting succumbs to the pressure of undesirable functioning in offices instead of standing against it. Therefore the award of compensation for harassment by public authorities not only compensates the individual, satisfies him personally but helps in curing social evil. It may result in improving the work culture and help in changing the outlook.”

To ensure that govt officers do not drive the citizen to courts, it is necessary to fix accountability of the officers in his personal capacity, if the decision is not up held in the court of law. The officer who authorizes appeal in higher courts should also be held accountable personally, if the appeals are not upheld in higher courts. These officers should be required to reimburse to the govt all penalties, compensations ordered by courts and expenses incurred by the govt for defending the cases.

If such a system is adopted, the govt officers would be more vigilant and would not drive common man to courts at public money. This will reduce court cases and public will not be required to fight in courts for long years to get justice. This system will have salutary effect of arriving at proper decision by govt officers, which can hold test of the Courts. Corruption will also be minimized.