DELAYS IN LITIGATIONS: REASONS AND SOLUTIONS

Sethuram.S ,Professor, Department of MBA, SANSAC

Often, one comes across statements from the Courts and Government that there are several thousand cases that are pending in the Courts. One wonders why such delays are happening.

While there are many causes for such delays, one of the reasons is there are fewer Courts when compared to the huge population of our country. There are many litigants filing cases every day. Because of inadequate number of Courts, cases get piled up in the existing Courts. The Government needs to address this problem by establishing more number of Courts.

Another cause is that, the delay in filling up of judicial vacancies. There are many vacancies in various Courts and Tribunals across India. As a result there is delay in deciding the cases. There are adequate number of suitable lawyers in our country who can be appointed as judges. The Government needs to solve this issue, by promptly filling up the vacancies in the Court.

The litigants are also a reason for such delays. For example, in disputes between a landlord and tenant, the tenant will try to prolong the litigation by seeking adjournments. Similarly, in a debt recovery suit filed by the Bank, the debtor will try to delay the proceedings by seeking time citing various reasons. The litigants have to behave as responsible citizens and should cooperate for early adjudication of disputes.

There are also few Lawyers, who seek unnecessary adjournments of the cases due to various reasons. In this way, such Lawyers are also responsible for the delay in deciding of cases. They need to be adequately trained and advised not to seek unnecessary adjournments. Lawyers should also avoid court boycotts / strikes. Being the most important stake holders, they need to cooperate with the courts, in arriving at early resolution of disputes.

The Judges also have to be strict while granting time to the litigants and should make adjournments only when it is absolutely necessary. This will pave way for speedy disposal of cases.

The Courts in India, particularly lower judiciary lacks adequate infrastructure. The lower courts needs to be fully digitalized. Enough buildings are to be constructed. Adequate court staff need to be appointed. More number of courts are to be established. Only then, pending litigations at the lower courts can be reduced. Though this involves expenses to the Government, considering the importance of the subject, the Government should allocate funds and carry out the works promptly in the infrastructure front.

The general public and the businesses, should avoid filing unnecessary cases. They can resort to alternate dispute resolution like Arbitration and Mediation. In this way, they can get the disputes sorted out quickly and also there will be less burden on the courts.

Thus by the contributions and cooperation between the bar, bench, litigants and the government, speedy justice can be rendered and the large number of pending cases can be disposed.

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