Ensuring Expeditious and Timely Justice for All

An Innovative Approach to Restore Faith in the Countrys Judicial Process

Multifurcated Federal Justice System

Vanhi
Gunjan Saxena | Ayushi Srivastava | Gunjan Jain | Lokesh Mahajan | Suvid Chaturvedi
Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Visakhapatnam

Indian Judiciary is considered to be one of the most powerful Judiciaries in the World; However, the average time taken for a lawsuit to complete in India is an astonishing 15 Years!

India faces a big crunch in the number of judges per million residents.
Justice Delivery System lags behind due to increased burden on a single judge.

Supporting Fact A: Currently, India has 14 judges per million people as compared to 150 judges in the US, 75 in Canada and 51 in Britain. Supporting Fact B: The current number of cases pending in India counts up to 31.28 million, and are estimated to be disposed of in the next 320 years with this rate! Supporting Fact C: Out of 67964 cases per month which are put up for hearing in the Honble Supreme Court, only 29716 cases are heard, which means that 38248 cases are left unheard despite being listed for hearing in a particular month!

The number of cases pending at different courts in India is further adding to the problem.
A great number of cases go unnoticed in the courts despite of being listed for hearing. This adds to the already existent plethora of backlogs and erodes peoples faith in the justice delivery system.

A Multifurcated Federal Justice System can be an Innovative Approach Towards Countering the Glitches of the Current System.
The Advisory Council
Writes Recommendations on Civil Law Suits before being tabled at the Supreme Court. Every Civil Law Suit to pass through the council before being heard at the Supreme Court.

THE SUPREME COURT

The High Court Complex
The Writ & Public Interest Litigation Chapter

The District Court Complex

The Environment & Space Related Chapter The Arms & Ammunitions Chapter

Online Suit Registration System and Offline Suit Registration Kiosks. Latter also includes a Channelization Node which will direct the cases to 8 basic chapters comprising of 25 specialized tribunals in which the District Courts will now stand Multifurcated.

Each Chapter Includes Various Tribunals which Deal with the Law suits in their Areas of Specialization.
The Human Rights Chapter
Juvenile Justice Tribunal Women Welfare Tribunal The Family Court Tribunal SC, STs Atrocities Prevention Tribunal The Consumer Forum

The Trade & Mercantile Chapter

Excise Matters Tribunal Taxation Tribunal Labor Law Tribunal Intellectual Property Rights Tribunal Trusts and Equity Tribunal Proprietary & Partnership Law Tribunal Mercantile Law Tribunal

The Economic Chapter

Money Suits Tribunal Banking Law Tribunal Bankruptcy Law Tribunal Insurance Laws Tribunal Administrative Matters Tribunal Corporate Tribunal

Environment & Space Laws Chapter

Maritime Laws Tribunal Air & Space Laws Tribunal Green Tribunal

The Sports Law Chapter

The Chapter for Law in Medicine

The Chapter for Cyber & Technology Laws

The Chapter for Arms and Ammunition

The Chapter for Writ Petitions (For High Courts & Supreme Courts Only)

The New System Operates without Hassles and Delivers Justice at the Doorstep of Every Citizen.

Registration

Channelization

Hearing

Appeal

Disposal

Online Registration System & Offline Registration Kiosks Cases can be directly registered through the online portal within minutes and appointment for channelization and Hearing Date Allotment can be obtained. Alternatively, one can also visit any of the Kiosks installed in each district to manually get the case registered and summon to the respondent sent. Lawyer to be registered by the Petitioner with the case itself. Knowledge about the legalities of the case can be obtained through the KYL (Know your Law) instituted with the Offline Case Registration Kiosks itself.

Computerized Channelization Node

Instituted with the Offline Suit Registration Kiosk itself.

Registered Suits will automatically be directed to the respective Law tribunal based on the relevance of corresponding legalities of the Suit. Date of hearing (first & subsequent) will be allotted through a

computerized process programmed to optimize the speed of

dispute redressal. Judge or bench (as the case may be) will also be allotted to the Suit upon Registration and the Judge will be informed about the same.

After Registration and Channelization, the case goes for its first hearing in one of the 25 Tribunals specially instituted to deliver Quality Justice to All at a Much Faster Rate

Registration

Channelization

Hearing

Appeal

Disposal

The Court of Trial

The Court of Appeal

Upon further appeal on the Trial Courts Decision, The Court of Appeal then
examines the case on the question of law.

The Court of Trial then hears the case on the question of Fact. Smaller benches preferred so that the cases can be

Every High Court is divided into 9 Chapters which is further divided into 26 Tribunals (Including Writ Tribunal).

disposed of quickly.
The Lawyer can not take more than 8 Adjournments at these courts. Every extra Adjournment to be recorded in the lawyers Career Record (CR).

The Lawyer can not take more than 8 Adjournments at these courts. Every extra Adjournment to be recorded in the lawyers Career Record (CR).

Granted the status of Semi- Binding Court in the Civil Suits. All Civil Suits examined by the Advisory Council before being tabled at the Supreme Court.

Due to the enhanced quality of Justice Delivery at the Lower Levels, the Number of Suits Tabled at the Supreme Court comes down Considerably; Additionally, an Advisory Council to be Set up to screen the Suits coming from the Courts of Appeal.

Registration

Channelization

Hearing

Appeal

Disposal

The Advisory Council

The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court to continue as the apex Court of Law in the country. Allowed to have Ultimate Jurisdiction in all cases of Civil and Criminal Origin. Incase of receiving a Negative recommendation from the Advisory Council (Civil Suits), the Court to preferably direct the parties to go for Arbitration, Conciliation or Out- of- Court settlement. Incase of receiving a Positive recommendation from the Advisory Council (Civil Suits), the Court to deliver a One- Shot verdict, i.e., to deliver the verdict on the same date. Lawyers not allowed to take more than six (06) Adjournments at this stage. Every extra adjournment taken gets recorded in the Career Record (CR) of the Lawyer.

An Advisory Council is proposed to be set up between The Courts of Appeal and The Supreme Court. The Advisory council will screen all the civil suits in which an appeal is made for hearing at the Supreme Court. The Council to recommend the feasibility of the suit to be heard at the Supreme Court within 7 days of an Appeal Petition. The Recommendation

to be recorded by the Council on the Lawsuit file itself.

Incase of a negative recommendation, the petitioner has to cite a suitable reason for Overruling the recommendation of the Council incase he/she still decides to take the case to the Apex Court.

The New System can be Implemented with a much greater ease using almost all the existing Infrastructure and a very feasible budget.

Recruitment
Know Your Law (KYL) Centers KYL Officers : 08 per Center (To be Recruited through Written Examination & Interviews; Law Graduates Eligible) KYL Clerks: 02 per Center ( To be Recruited through Interviews; Simple Graduates Eligible) KYL Peons: 04 per Center ( To be Recruited through Interviews; Higher Secondary School Passed people Eligible) High Courts (HC)

Budget
Offline Suit Registration Kiosks (OSRK) OSRK Clerks: 10 per Center ( To be Recruited through Interviews; Simple Graduates Eligible) OSRK Peons : 10 Per Center (To be Recruited through Interviews; Higher Secondary School Passed people Eligible)

Target & Implementation

District Courts (DC) Approximately 35000 more District Judges and ADJs proposed to be appointed. (Through Traditional Selection Process Only). 03 Judicial Clerks per District Judge and ADJ proposed to be appointed, which counts up to a total of Approximately 1,00,000 new job openings 01 Stenographer per District Judge and ADJ proposed to be appointed, which counts up to 35000 total job openings. 03 peons per DJ & ADJ also proposed, counting up to 1,00,000 new job openings.

Approximately 24000 more High Court Judges proposed to be appointed. (Through Traditional Selection Process Only). 03 Judicial Clerks per High Court Judge proposed to be appointed, which counts up to a total of Approximately 1,00,000 new job openings 01 Stenographer per High Court Judge proposed to be appointed, which counts up to 35000 total job openings. 03 peons per HC Judge also proposed, counting up to 1,00,000 new job openings.

Advisory Council (AC) Board of Governors: 10 (Ten)- To be appointed from within the outgoing judges of the HC & SC; Age limit to be 70 years to serve in the AC. Council of Advisors: 100 - To be appointed from the IJS (Indian Judicial Services) Cadre Officers Pool. AC Clerks: 50- To be appointed through Interviews ( Simple Graduates Eligible) Peons: 100 - To be appointed through Interviews (Senior Secondary School passed Candidates eligible)

Recruitments at the Supreme Court Remain As It Is.

The New Concept uses just 0.3 percent of annual GDP of India as a One Time Investment and 0.6 percent of Annual GDP of India as subsequent Annual Expenditure, Making it a simplistic and economical model of Justice for All.

Recruitments

Budget

Target & Implementation

Total One Time Installation Budget = Rs. 4000 Crores Entity

I. New Judges District Judges - High Court Judges

Total Annual Expenditure = Rs. 8300 Crores Number of Employments

35000 24000 48000 2,75,000

Expenditure
Rs. 7.2 l.p.a. Rs. 10.8 l.p.a. Rs. 3.6 l.p.a. Rs. 2.4 l.p.a.

Total
Rs. 252 Crores Rs. 260 Crores Rs. 173 Crores Rs. 660 Crores

II. KYL Officers III. Clerks

IV. Stenographers
V. Peons VI. Outsourcing for Online Suit Monitoring, Registration and Channelization System VII. New Complexes for Combined faculties of KYL & OSRK Centers VIII. Annual Maintenance of KYL & OSRK Centers

Rs. 3.6 l.p.a.

Rs. 1.2 l.p.a. Rs. 1000 Cr.p.a. (Estimated)

70000
2,25,000 01

Rs. 252 Crores

Rs. 270 Crores Rs. 1000 Crores

Rs. 50 Lakhs

6000

Rs. 3000 Crores

Rs. 40 Lakhs

6000

Rs. 2400 Crores

The Concept can be Easily Implemented at all levels and the System can start functioning with all force in the next 05 years.

Recruitments

Budget

Target & Implementation

The system based upon the concept can be put to function in as less as 05 years. Mass machine procurement and high amount of digitalization will cut short the process of implementation by a large extent.
Functioning Starts

Process implementation can be outsourced by appointing some big player in the Indian Consultancy Market.
Advertisement through the means of Mass Communication can be made for employing Skilled Lower Class Professionals.

Recruitments and Training

Material Procurement & Installation

Budget Allocation

The New Concept provides an edge over the existent practices in innovation, practicality, transparency and increases peoples participation in the Legal Scene of the Country.

The old system lacks in specializing and sorting of cases, as a result of which the burden of delivering justice in a huge number of cases comes down upon a very meagre number of Judges and the process becomes slow, also decreasing the quality of judgments.

The New System Multifurcates the District and High Courts into 25 specialized tribunals which is a single excellent solution to many of the Indian Judicial Problems. It dramatically increases the number of judges and brings down the Judges to People ratio impressively. It also creates 700000 new opportunities in the Judicial Sector which will wash away its branding of being a profession of a select few. It also makes justice delivery surprisingly fast and the Quality of decisions is also enhanced.

It also strives to make law a field of specialization which will show its effects in the years to come, by students preferring to specialize in a particular field of law and the lawyers following them as well.
When cases are handled by varied Court Tribunals, a clear comparative analysis of the speed of justice delivery and Quality of Judgments delivered between these tribunals can be easily made, which will help in indicating the direction for further Improvements,

The New Concept improvises Technology with Innovation, Practicality and Logic at every level to ensure that the Suit gets the Best Treatment.

The old system depends on an age old case registration and tracking system which is a real pain to face.

In the new system, reliance is on digitalization of all the case registration process and its monitoring. This will solve many problems including the eating of money by notaries and agents in registration itself, cases being stalled due to wrong jurisdiction, and judges being absent from the hearing continuously for long intervals. The new system limits the number of adjournments taken to 08 in District and High Courts and 06 in the Supreme Court, and also provides for maintaining a Career Record (CR) for the lawyers to keep a record of every extra adjournment taken by them and also the tally of their won and lost cases. (CR to be managed by the BCI) The new system uses a very innovative concept of Sandwiching an Advisory Council between the High Courts and the Supreme Court. All Civil Suits going to Supreme Court for re appeal have to pass through the council for screening where the council gives a written recommendation over the suit file itself and all appellants going for re appeal in spite of a Negative Recommendation have to cite a proper and convincing reason to be tabled at the Supreme Court.

In the present day system, the Lawyers tend to increase the time taken for justice delivery by taking continuous adjournments without any fear of after effects.

In the present day system, The Supreme Court experiences a great backlog of undecided cases and almost every suit reaching the High Court also reaches the Supreme Court for re appeal.

The Concept Faces Key Economical and Feasibility Risks.

The present share of GDP which Judiciary shares is Total Share of GDP allocated can be raised to as 0.4% currently. much as 1.5%, making us stand in comparison with the US (1.5%) and the UK (4.5%) Always, small steps make a big difference, hence the need of the hour is to start today and move swiftly towards a better tomorrow.

Lack of specialization & educational qualifications in present Judicial System will hinder the instant Implementation of this model.

Presently appointed Judicial Officers lack specialization required as per the proposed model.

Special trainings in the Judicial Academies to train Judges in their fields of specialization can be conducted; thus the number of Judicial Academies can be raised accordingly.

Appendix
Public Information Bureau | pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx Trading Economics | trading economics.com/india/gdp-growth-annual/ Business Standard | business-standard.com/articles/opinion/m-j-antony-judiciary-on-a-shoestring.html Supreme Court of India | supremecourtofindia.nic.in/pendingstat.htm Indian Express | indianexpress.com/news/judges-salary/ India Budget | indiabudget.nic.in/glance.aspx

Better Judiciary. Better Tomorrow.

Vanhi