AJRI Asks Supreme Court For Taking Action Early Disposal of Execution of Decrees

 

To,                                                                                                        11/10/2022

                          Hon'ble Mr. Justice Uday Umesh Lalit                                

                                 The Chief Justice of India,

                                              New Delhi.

Subject:   A Humble Request for taking an urgent and prompt action for early disposal of execution of decrees passed by the competent courts of India.

            Reference to the subject mentioned above, we on the behalf of our trust the Association for Judicial Reforms, India (AJRI), want to humbly submit the following submissions for kind consideration of lordship for enhancing public faith and trust on fairness and independency of Judiciary:                                                                                                   

1.     That our Trust, Association for Judicial Reforms ,India (AJRI) is working for the cause of Judicial Reforms by suggesting practical ways to all the stakeholders of Justice Delivery System based on public experiences and analytical legal research.

2.     That as our Trust believes that the Nation which cannot guarantee Justice to its citizens may gain monetarily but cannot get the Sustainable Development, evolution of present Judicial system within its four corners is the best suited methodology to bring judicial reforms in India, we at AJRI work for documenting the public experiences of litigants/lawyers and synergize these with analytical research carried out by our researchers suggest only those practical ways, which if implemented in accordance with the present Constitutional/Statutory provisions will bring valuable reforms in the present Judicial system

3.     That as per the data compiled by the National Judicial Data Grid, as of date there are 14,92,637 execution petitions are pending in various Indian courts, which constitutes 14.05 % of total pendency of Indian Courts, excluding the Hon’ble Apex Court, as NJDG does not compiles data of this Hon’ble Court  till today(The a written request for inclusion of the Hon’ble Supreme Court data in NJDC has already been made by us through our last communication 07/03/2022 to the then Hon’ble Chief Justice of India).

4.     That we at AJRI deeply disturbed after knowing the sad fact that 5918 execution petitions in India are still pending for over 30 years, the meaning thereby that the decree holders of these 5918 cases have been deprived of their fundamental right to get justice and from enjoying the fruits of their rightful claims duly adjudicated by the Courts of Law from trial courts to the Apex Court of India.

5.     That further, the NJDC data substantiates that 36 % of pendency in execution petitions falls under category of 5 years to over 30 years.

6.     That We at AJRI being an organization working for brining the practical Judicial Reforms in India, and in our continued efforts for the above said objective, we humbly request your good self direct all the High Courts to reconsider and update all the Rules relating to Execution of Decrees, made under exercise of its powers under Article 227 of the Constitution of India and Section 122 of CPC for early disposal of execution petitions in India.

7.     That this Hon’ble Court in civil appeal nos.1659-1660 of 2021 titled Rahul S Shah Vs Jinendra Kumar Gandhi & Ors in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 142 read with Article 141 and Article 144 of the Constitution of India in larger public interest to subserve the process of justice so as to bring to an end the unnecessary ordeal of litigation faced by parties awaiting fruits of decree and in larger perspective affecting the faith of the litigants in the process of law issued directions to all Courts in India dealing with suits and execution proceedings but even after passage of more than one and half year, the Courts in India dealing with suits and execution proceedings are not complying with the directions of this Hon’ble Court in above stated case.

8.     That the Faith in the judiciary is the facets of the judicial administration to which they contributed substantially. It is essential to maintain the faith of the common masses in the judiciary, failing which it would lose its respect and esteem. Law is meant to meet the ends of justice and to protect the faith of the people in the independence of the judiciary developed, established, accepted by a consistent tradition from time immemorial, is the avowed duty of every one of us, especially of Lawyers, Judges, Legislators and the Executives.

9.     That We at AJRI request your lordship kindly take urgent and prompt required action at earliest in the interest of justice and for further enhancing the public trust on one of fairest and independent justice delivery systems in prevailing the world.

                Keeping in view the above mentioned humble submissions it is kindly requested to consider the suggested suggestions in the interest of justice, in case of suggestive measure are positively implemented in the interest of fairness an independency of Indian Judiciary, assistance from our side is always at the disposal of one of fairest and independent justice delivery systems in prevailing world.

                                      Dinesh Singh Rawat                    Mrs. Jatinder Kaur

                                                    Trustee                          Managing Trustee

Copy to Hon’ble Chief Justice of India and Justices of the Supreme Court of India with humble request for considering of submissions made in our communication in the interest of Justice.

 

                                       Dinesh Singh Rawat                    Mrs. Jatinder Kaur

                                                    Trustee                       Managing Trustee

AJRI Writes CJI & Judges For Bringing Supreme Court cases Data under NJDG

 To,                                                                                                        07/03/2022

                          Hon'ble Mr. Justice N.V. Ramana,

                                 The Chief Justice of India,

                                              New Delhi.

Subject:   A Humble Request for bringing the data of cases of the Supreme Court India under the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG).

            Reference to the subject mentioned above, we on the behalf of our trust the Association for Judicial Reforms, India (AJRI), want to humbly submit the following submissions for the kind consideration of lordship for enhancing public faith and trust in fairness and independency of Judiciary, using the latest Information and Communication Technology  :                                                                                                   

1.    That our Trust, Association for Judicial Reforms, India (AJRI) is working for the cause of Judicial Reforms by suggesting practical ways to all the stakeholders of the Justice Delivery System based on public experiences and analytical legal research.

2.    That as our Trust believes that the evolution of the present Judicial system within its jurisdictions is the best-suited methodology to bring judicial reforms in India, we at AJRI work for documenting the public experiences of litigants/lawyers, and synergize these with analytical research carried out by our researchers, to suggest only those practical ways, which if implemented in accordance with the present Constitutional/Statutory provisions will bring valuable reforms in the present Judicial system.

3.    That the e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India working under the patronship of the lordship, and efficient chairmanship of Dr. Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud has brought various reforms in the Justice delivery system of India by using the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), we at AJRI acknowledge the reforms carried out by the e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India for enabling Indian Judiciary as well as all stakeholders with the usage of technologies.

4.    That We at AJRI being an organization working for brining the practical Judicial Reforms in India, and in our continued efforts for the above-said objective, we humbly request your good self to bring the data of cases of the Supreme Court of India under the ambit of the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG).

5.    That as of date, one can access the live data of cases of district courts and the High Courts of India in tabular and as well as graphical ways, which enables the higher judicial authorities and legal researchers to know where lays the pendency in Indian Justice Delivery system, and what remedies are required for the same, whereas in case of the Supreme Court of India, we have to rely only on a static data provided in the annual report of Supreme Court of India, thus in the absence live data of cases of the Apex court of India, one can’t able to link the cases pending in the Supreme Court of India with those cases of district courts and the High Courts, wherein pendency of years is for want of final adjudication by the apex court of India side.

6.    That in the month of February 2022, the PIO of the Supreme Court of India in reply to the RTI query filed by our Trustee, categorically stated that the e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India to date has not considered a proposal for bringing the data of cases of the Supreme Court under the ambit of NJDG.

7.    That it’s on public records that linking of Indian courts through NJDG has specifically helped India to improve its ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report, and further linking of the supreme court of India with NJDG will also enhance the prospects of our country in above said crucial ranking of India, a crucial tool in now-a-day economy induced world.

8.    That We at AJRI request your lordship to direct the concerned authorities for linking the data of cases of the supreme court of India with the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) at the earliest in the interest of justice and in the public interest at large.

                Keeping in view the above mentioned humble submissions it is kindly requested to consider the suggested suggestions in the interest of justice, in case of suggestive measures are positively implemented in the interest of fairness and independency of the Indian Judiciary, assistance from our side is always at the disposal of one of fairest and independent justice delivery systems in the prevailing world.

                                          Dinesh Singh Rawat                    Mrs. Jatinder Kaur

                                                    Trustee                       Managing Trustee

 

Copy to Hon’ble Chief Justice of India and Justices of the Supreme Court of India with a humble request for considering of submissions made in our communication in the interest of Justice.

 

                                            Dinesh Singh Rawat                    Mrs. Jatinder Kaur

                                                    Trustee                       Managing Trustee

Copy of this Representation was also sent to Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Mr. Justice U.U. Lalit, Mr. Justice Sanjiv Khanna, and Mr. Justice Surya Kant by registered post.

AJRI is publishing the Representation after duly verifying that AJRI's Representation has been received by the above-mentioned Judges. 

 

AJRI Suggests CJI & SC Judges Turning COVID-19 Pandemic into A Blessing in Disguise

To,                                                                                                        19/05/2020

                       Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde,

                                 The Chief Justice of India,

                                              New Delhi.

Subject:  Suggestions for turning COVID-19 Pandemic into a blessing in disguise for Indian Justice Delivery System.

  Reference to the subject mentioned above, we on the behalf of our trust the Association for Judicial Reforms, India (AJRI), want to humbly submit the following submissions for kind consideration of lordship for enhancing public faith and trust on fairness and independency of Judiciary during Covid-19 Pandemic:                                                                                                    

1.    That our Trust, Association for Judicial Reforms ,India (AJRI) is working for the cause of Judicial Reforms by suggesting practical ways to all the stakeholders of Justice Delivery System based on public experiences and analytical legal researches.

2.    That as our Trust believes that evolution of present Judicial system within its jurisdictions is the best suited methodology to bring judicial reforms in India, we at AJRI work for documenting the public experiences of litigants/lawyers and synergize these with analytical researches carried out by our researchers, to suggest only those practical ways, which if implemented in accordance with the present Constitutional/Statutory provisions will bring valuable reforms in the present Judicial system.

3.    That on 06/04/2020, the Hon’ble Supreme Court speaking through your lordship, Justice D. Y. Chandrachud and Justice L.Nageswara Rao issued various directions evoking the jurisdiction of article 142 of Constitution of India in Suo Motu Writ Petition No.5/2020 for assuring access to justice during COVID-19 pandemic by adopting new ways.

4.    That above mentioned directions mandated all stakeholders of Indian Justice Delivery System to adopt the two sets of novel approaches for keeping access to justice open even during the most severest catastrophic situations, the first set of directions are regarding the behavioral changes which are required to be adopted by all, under changed situations, and second set of directions are about the usage of digital technologies in accessing justice and delivering justice.

5.    That we at AJRI suggest your goodself, the two sets of practicable suggestions for urgent implementation for securing the Rule of Law during the COVID-19 pandemic Lockdown, and further propose your goodself for continuance of the same, even after normalcy regained. These suggestions if implemented would reduce uncalled the public gatherings in Indian Courts on one hand and will further enhance the sanctity in judicial proceedings. 

6.    That as per AJRI analytical research synchronized with ground reports gathered by our research team, clearly suggests that, India has 2,500 court complexes housing more than 15,000 Courts, further our research indicates that around 15, 00,000 cases come for consideration daily in the Lower Courts. The Civil Cases Vs Criminal Cases ratio in Indian Courts is 1: 2.5, The CrPC mandates the presence of complainant and accused in hearings of criminal cases, keeping. in view of aforesaid legal provisions and general tendency of Indian litigants,  more than 2.5 million litigants usually attend Indian lower courts daily in congested court complexes, apart from litigants, the Indian lower courts complexes hold around 15, 00,000 (2500x500) lawyers and their support staff whole of the day.

7.    That under above inscribed scenario, where around four million people attend Indian lower courts in a day, maintaining the social distancing would be a cumbersome work for authorities, on this issue AJRI wants to suggest that, the Lower courts should direct all lawyers to compete the procedural legal works like, filings of the written statements, the reapplications, the written replies and the written arguments in civil cases. And in criminal side, where cases are pending for arguments, these cases should be taken on priority basis and lawyers should be directed to file their written arguments in the support of their respective cases in accordance with section 314 of CrPC, prior to granting them opportunities for oral arguments, which will one on side enable judges to decide the cases quickly and on other side, it will minimize the duration of physical presence of lawyers and accused in the courts.

8.    That further AJRI suggests your lordship to issue direction to all judges irrespective of status of courts, for utilizing the lockdown period to write down the judgments in all those cases, which are pending for order/judgments and upload the copies of same in e-court website. If these steps are taken then it would prevent litigants to visit courts complexes for above mentioned purposes in future.

9.    That the situation in the Higher Judiciary including the Supreme Court of India is critical, wherein 26 Court Complexes hold more than 65,000 (26x2500) lawyers and their support staff daily, apart from these, approximately same number of litigants attend various High Courts and the Supreme Court of India daily. On this onset, we at AJRI suggest your goodself to first start telecasting live streaming of Court proceedings of The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and all High Courts in accordance with the directions dated September 26, 2018 issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Writ Petition (civil) No. 1232 of 2017 Titled Swapnil Tripathi Vs Supreme Court of India.

10. That the telecasting of the live streaming of Court proceedings in the High Courts and in The Supreme Courts will endorse the existing provisions of the Rule 1, Order 20 of CPC and section 353 of CrPC and it will also reduce the litigants physically presence in  the courts.

11. That the telecasting of the live streaming of Court proceedings in the lower Courts is not feasible right now in absence of basic infrastructure required, like uninterrupted power supply, ultra speed internet etc. in all district Court Complexes. Once capacity will be created at all district level Courts, then lessons learnt from the Higher Courts of India can be replicated in all the district lower courts after customized the same as per the local situations.

12. That the people are isolated at homes, travel is restricted, the right for accessing justice has been impaired, as majority of citizens in the locked situations are not able to engage lawyers and nor they have any other option to access justice in case rule of law infringed in their vicinity (especially in rural India), and not normally come into the notice of Indian Justice Delivery system through media or through other limited legal window. On this aspect we at AJRI want to suggest your goodself that all the Higher Courts including the Hon’ble Supreme Court should release email addresses /other digital options for citizens, where they can send their grievances directly to the respective High Courts or even to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. This suggestion, if implemented urgently will open an additional window for accessing the Justice Delivery during this COVID-19 pandemic, which will also widen the suo motu jurisdictions of Indian Justice Delivery system.

13. That the move of conducting the court proceedings through virtual Court mode is a welcome step for transforming the Indian Justice delivery from files to fiber technologies, but the early feedback of the virtual Court mode suggest that, even at the High Courts and the Supreme Court levels, the mode is at its infancy stages that CISCO’s Webx is an approved videoconferencing app but still Whatsapp is being used frequently while court proceedings in case of the approved CISCO’s Webx fails.

14. That majority of lawyers who experienced the virtual courts despite various technological hurdles welcomed the initiative of opening of the virtual Courts for keeping the Justice delivery system moving even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Majority of lawyers advocated that, directly opening the virtual Courts for all lawyers, irrespective of their technological aptitude would be detrimental to their professional standings and would also be a great injustice with the litigants and ultimately to the cause of justice. On this aspect, We at AJRI suggests your goodself that, as concept of the virtual Courts in India is at its trial stage, and during this stage it should be tried with only those lawyers who are fully tech savvy that too after inviting their willingness to join virtual courts and once trial period will end, then a Standard Operating Procedure for Virtual Courts could be released after augmenting the general legal aptitude of a lawyer with available digital technologies. 

15. That We at AJRI suggests your good-self that apart from Virtual Courts ,help of a new technology called the virtual reality technology could be taken, which is easier for even non tech savvy judges and lawyers in conducting virtual court proceedings.

16. That the COVID-19 pandemic mitigation strategy warrants the social distancing as a main defence against COVID-19, but bringing this sudden behavioral change is not a easy to carried out until we take help of behavioral science, which says human lives are in constant state of changes but these changes went unnoticed until it was over and done. It can suddenly become habits, once you do or see something new that you’re never had before, or like you, quit doing something you've done forever. The move initiated by your goodself, easing the dress protocol for Judges and Advocates will surely bring desired behavioral changes towards the social distancing. On this Aspect, We at AJRI suggests you that during COVID-19 pandemic all the judicial complexes in India should be cleansed and sanitized to the next level and giving them a new look, as this new look will always remind all the stakeholders of the Indian Justice delivery system for maintaining the social distancing in court Complexes. 

17. That,AJRI humbly request your goodself that, if the above mentioned suggestions are implemented during COVID-19 pandemic, will not ease pressure on judicial authorities to maintain social distancing in court complexes during the COVID-19 menace, but also in post COVID-19 it may bring decisive judicial reforms in Indian Justice Delivery System. 

                      Keeping in view the above mentioned humble submissions it is kindly requested to consider the suggested suggestions in the interest of justice, in case of suggestive measure are positively implemented in the interest of fairness an independency of Indian Judiciary, assistance from our side is always at the disposal of one of fairest and independent justice delivery systems in prevailing world.

                                          Dinesh Singh Rawat                    Mrs. Jatinder Kaur

                                                    Trustee                       Managing Trustee

Copies to All Hon’ble Judges of The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India & Chief Justice of High Courts with humble request for considering of submissions made in our communication in the interest of Justice.

                                          Dinesh Singh Rawat                    Mrs. Jatinder Kaur

                                                        Trustee                       Managing Trustee

Enclosure:  Copies of Earlier Suggestions for Judicial Reforms suggested by AJRI to former Chief Justices of India

AJRI Suggests The Supreme Court & High Courts Ways to Reduce Pendency in Indian Courts

To,                                                                              16/10/2018

                         Hon’ble Justice Ranjan Gogoi,

                              Chief Justice of India,

                                      New Delhi.

Subject:  Practical Suggestions for Reducing the Huge Pendency of Cases in Indian Courts of Law through Easy and Feasible Judicial Reforms.

  Reference to the subject mentioned above, we on the behalf of our trust, the Association for Judicial Reforms, India (AJRI), want to humbly submit the following submissions for kind consideration of lordship for enhancing public faith and trust on fairness and independency of Judiciary;                                                                                                      

1.    That our Trust, Association for Judicial Reforms ,India (AJRI) is working for the cause of Judicial Reforms by suggesting practical ways to all the stakeholders of Justice Delivery System based on public experiences and analytical legal researches.

2.    That as our Trust believes that evolution of present Judicial system within its jurisdictions is the best suited methodology to bring judicial reforms in India, we at AJRI work for documenting the public experiences of litigants/lawyers and synergize these with analytical researches carried out by our researchers, to suggest only those practical ways which if implemented as per present Constitutional/Statutory provisions could bring valuable reforms in present Judicial system.

3.    That public faith and trust on fairness and independency of Judiciary   guarantees the equitable and sustainable development of the society, absence/deterioration of which erodes the natural rights of all the citizens of democratically ruled societies like India, where as per National Judicial Data Grid statistics on October  16, 2018, the total 2,78,42,530 numbers of cases are pending in various district courts, means thereby that at least 8 Crore citizens always remain in judicial loop of Lower Courts(an average of  three person per case).

4.    That on the basis of experiences of litigants and Advocates, including all stake holders of Justice Delivery system duly documented by our analytical researches on “Huge Pendency of Cases in Indian Courts of Law ” warrant urgent improvisation for enhancing public faith and trust on fairness and independency of Judiciary by urgently reducing the pendency over Indian Courts .

5.    That as per our Analytical research and majority of litigants and their lawyers shared with our researchers that huge pendency of Cases in Indian Courts of Law  is because of following reasons :

a) Non prioritization of cases for early adjudication ignoring the Case Flow Management Rules.  

b)    Inadequate numbers of Judges vis-a-vis pendency

c)    Multiplication of same cases for same cause of action.

d) Not honouring the intent of legislature for excluding the jurisdiction of Civil Courts in adjudicating the cases emerging out of certain governing acts.

e) Still existence of colonial way to serve court process like notice/ summons instead of ICT enabled process like email in cases there is official email address available.

f) Uncalled Adjournments for filling Written Statement/reapplications, adducing the evidences and for advancing arguments during trials.

6.    That the Non prioritization of cases  is the one of main causes of huge backlog of cases in Lower Courts, as per analytical research synchronized with ground reports gathered by our research team, clearly suggests that on October 15, 2018 out of the total 2,78,42,530 numbers of cases  pending in various district courts, 22,88,535 (8.22%) cases are pending for more than 10 years, despite the fact that various high Courts have already passed Case Flow Management Rules which provide prioritization of cases. As per our analytical research 53 % of total cases pending for more than 10 years are in the State of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, where the Case Flow Management Rules have not been framed/passed and in absence of which we cannot imagine clearing the backlog of 8.22% of total pendency where justice has been delayed for more than 10 years. On this aspect we at AJRI humbly suggest you in the interest of justice to ask all those high Courts which have not framed the Case Flow Management Rules till date to frame these rules and implement these rules in true letter and spirit. 

7.    That inadequate numbers of Judges vis-a-vis pendency is second main reason stated to be for huge pendency in Indian Courts of law. On this aspect we want to respectfully suggest that appointments of judges in Lower judiciary may kindly be initiated in those states urgently which are largely contributing 50 percent in pendency like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar etc.

8.    That the multiplication of cases for same cause of actions is the third major reasons for huge pendency in District Courts. Our research study on this aspect fortified that some litigants/ lawyers unethically filed various cases emerging out of same cause of action in different courts, and courts even knowing these facts do not initiate to club all these cases in one competent court, which not only hike the pendency but also complicate the adjudication in case of conflict judgments by various courts on same cause of action. On this aspect we want to submit that strict action should be taken for causing pendency by multiplication of cases, and registry at district Courts level should be unified under one local computer network so that it can check the multiplication of cases for same cause of action at time of filing, as such now this is no option for registry to check multiplication at time of filling thus this aspect is also adding uncalled pendency over Indian Courts and seriously hampering the cause of Justice more then only pendency issue.

9.    That the section 9 of CPC puts bar on civil courts to hear the cases which are barred by the provisions of various special acts despite this bar, all district Courts are flooded with cases where cases are filed ignoring the above mentioned provisions and same remained pending for years even this aspect have been brought into notice of concerned courts on first instance which is a also major causes of pendency in Indian Lower Courts. On this aspect we at AJRI conducted a research study which suggests that in cases where jurisdiction of civil courts is barred by the law, the majority of districts courts do not decide the question of jurisdiction on the first instance before proceeding further into full-fledged trial, which creates unnecessary pendency, which could be avoided if same is decided on initial stage rather than after full-fledged trails. It is humbly suggested that all Courts of Law should be directed to decide the questions of jurisdiction if same is barred by law first before proceeding full-fledged trial.

10. That as per experiences of litigants, their lawyers which is well synchronized with  our research suggest that if a case takes one year from its first hearing to final judgment majority of time consume in serving the notices to respondents and filing written statements which can be saved by strict implementation of existing law, as your lordship knows that the amendment of Order-V of Code of Civil Procedure through which the services of summons may be transmitted through fax message or electronic mail service but the same has not been become reality in district courts as well as in the High Courts. And in case of delay in filing written statements beyond the stipulated timeline, strict directions may be issued to all courts of law and lawyers for adhering to the stipulated timeline for filing the written statements as per CPC.

11. That uncalled adjournments have become the public presumption about in Indian Courts of Law, which must be rectified urgently for further enhancing the faith and trust on Justice Delivery system, on this aspect it is suggested in the interest of fair justice that maximum numbers of adjournments in a case may be fixed which either of parties may avail during a case. If this suggestion

is implemented it would not only reduce the pendency and also correct the public presumption about uncalled adjournments.

     Keeping in view above submitted suggestions, we request you that  in case suggestive measures are positively implemented in the interest of fairness an independency of Indian Judiciary, assistance from our side is always at the disposal of one of fairest and independent justice delivery systems prevailing in the world.

                              Dinesh Singh Rawat                    Mrs. Jatinder Kaur

                                            Trustee                        Managing Trustee

Copies to All Hon’ble Chief Justice of High Courts with humble request for considering of submissions made in our communication in the interest of Justice.

                               Dinesh Singh Rawat                    Mrs. Jatinder Kaur

                                                Trustee                       Managing Trustee