Audi Alteram Partem

“..Country needs lot of things, sadly we have limited time”, says Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ranjan Gogoi, CJI. Though this was stated in the aftermath of hearing cases on Rafael jets during Mar.2019, it reflects the urge to dispose of the cases faster. With the current turmoil in the Supreme Court, every point being raised by CJI in public forum gains utmost importance.

The Well-being of a nation largely depends on people’s happiness. In a country where the people get a delayed justice due to the time-consuming court proceedings, undue stress entangles their livelihood. It impacts not only them but their next generations too.

Is there a possibility to complete the hearing and deliver justice in a reasonable time-frame without delays? What structural changes that need to be brought in for enabling this change? This blog attempts to make the readers’ curious with alternate options.

The filing of cases has been piling up in proportion to the growing population. Though additional courts are set up in the state capital and new districts, it does not help to fast-track the verdicts. The structure of the court system has also remained the same since 1950.

As Information Technology has been cutting across several domains, the courts did make a sincere attempt to adopt technology and begin the transformation. It had a good start through several projects initiated through ‘eCourts Mission Mode Project.’ There are several good outcomes from the implementation of “eCourts Phase-1 and Phase-2.” However, some of the critical architectural project components are not being fast-tracked due to lack of funds.  Ex: WAN Connectivity, Cloud computing

Judicial process re-engineering is one such project which standardizes the case purpose, case types, and groups different case type nomenclature under standard captions. There is also a useful repository of 2000 acts with punishment, fine and nature of the offence. However, the pace of adoption is not helping much.

The process of filing, mediation and verdict itself could be simplified, bringing transparency, which will eventually increase the confidence level of the public in getting the cases resolved.

As this is an era of artificial intelligence and deep learning, the courts have the opportunity to find alternate means with the combination of analytics and domain-specific expertise. Analytics will help to identify those top 10 categories of cases which has more volume of cases.  Category-led Domain experts trained in Mediation can be employed to mediate and fast-track the closure of cases.

The Mediation panel can be headed by experts who have experience in the specific subject matter. These experts can be senior lawyers from District or High courts or could be retired judges. Each of these mediation courts can be given a target number to close by each year. This progress will eventually reduce the number of cases which go for a higher appeal to the High court.

For example, let us consider the cases which have disputes related to immovable properties such as plot or flat. All cases belonging to this category can be filed and processed in this court. By this way, all the stakeholders get specialized in this category, and the collective focus will help in getting the cases resolved much faster. The Domain expert cross-trained in Mediation will work with the judiciary team, and it will result in Judges who get the additional expertise in solving all cases related to that specific category. For an analogy, we can compare it with Doctors who get specialized in specific areas of medicine.

Resolve conflicts today! It is easier to be said than done. However, if there is a process and relevant mechanism to manage this challenge, we can certainly get it done.

Booking of railway tickets was a big mess earlier and it is solved now with a click or swipe. Filing of Income tax was a cumbersome process earlier and it has now been as simple as booking a cinema ticket online. Getting new passports was a complicated process before. With the aid of analytics and process re-engineering, the process has been broken down to L1, L2 and L3 assuring transparency. Likewise, if there is a change introduced to solve the cases on a fast-track mode, the piling-up of cases will be a thing of a past. What is needed is a commitment to resolve.

The recent introduction of ‘eCourts’ mobile App is in the right direction towards getting people aware of the different processes. In continuation of the implementation of those projects, this proposal for restructuring will help to close the cases faster and thereby improve the Gross National Happiness index.

As listening to the other side (‘Audi alteram partem’) is also a principle of natural justice and also in order to sustain the confidence of the public in the judiciary, the transformation in the courts’ administration is the need of the hour. Jai Hind !