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New Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Judging in the age of populism
It is at this juncture that Lord Reed's inquiry and recommendations assume particular significance. Firstly, he recommends that while a court 'has to be fearless in defending our constitutional values, it also has to exercise judgement and display a sensitivity towards the other institutions of the state, and towards public opinion, if it is to avoid being perceived as a political actor'. Secondly, he recommends judgements be measured and neutral, thereby demonstrating they are based on law and exercise of legal expertise and experience and not on personal convictions. Thirdly, he stresses on the importance of public outreach in the form of livestreaming of proceedings, maintaining a hands-on and active communication team and establishing educational schemes to reach out to pupils at schools. Lord Reed's prescriptions are valuable and create avenues for the public to interact with the judiciary. To its credit, the Indian judiciary has been making efforts to make justice accessible. The e-Courts Project represents one of the largest judicial digitisation initiatives by sheer scale, connecting 18,735 district and subordinate courts. The Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software (SUVAS), launched in 2019, has translated thousands of Supreme Court judgments into multiple vernacular languages using artificial intelligence. Yet more needs to be done. India's technological achievements through e-courts and SUVAS must be complemented with sustained and planned public outreach. The judiciary also needs dedicated teams who can help judges craft accessible language, provide background briefings to journalists, and manage public messaging during controversial decisions. Perhaps most critically, the Indian judiciary must move beyond its often-adversarial relationship with parliament and towards structured dialogue. While we must strive to better adopt Lord Reed's recommendations to our unique needs, we must be mindful that they are technocratic in nature and may not address the underlying causes of the trust deficit. Courts in developed nations face the inevitable backlash of decades of judicial enforcement of market discipline and acculturation. On the other hand, our problems run much deeper as our judiciary faces urgent systemic issues in the form of corruption and an appointment system that has become a lightning rod. However, the needed reform must ensure independence from executive interference. Saai Sudharsan Sathiyamoorthy | Advocate, Madras High Court (Views are personal) (saaisudharsans@
Hindustan Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
SC flags vacancies in high courts, prods Centre to clear names for judges appointment
New Delhi, Observing Indian high courts have more than 7 lakh criminal appeals pending, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to expeditiously clear names for judges' appointments to mitigate issues of vacancies and pendency. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said the Allahabad High Court with 2.7 lakh cases pending criminal appeals had a sanctioned strength of 160 judges but was only functioning with 79 judges at present. "This is one aspect where the central government needs to act and ensure that recommendations of the collegium are cleared expeditiously. We hope and trust that the pending proposals will be cleared by the central government at the earliest," the bench said. Similarly, the Bombay High Court with a sanctioned strength 94, was functioning with only 66 judges, it added. The Calcutta High Court, it noted, was functioning with 44 judges opposed to the total strength of 72 judges. The bench observed the Delhi High Court currently had 41 judges against the prescribed 60 judges. "It has a huge pendency of criminal appeals. Hence this is an issue which will have to be handled at a different level," it added. The apex court said two days ago, recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium for appointment of high court judges was made public on the top court website. "Four recommendations of 2023 and 13 recommendations made in 2024 are pending with the Centre. The most recent recommendations made on September 24, 2024 are also pending," it said. The top court was hearing a suo motu petition relating to delays marring bail processes and expeditious release of undertrials granted bail. The court passed the directions after examining suggestions from senior advocate and amicus curiae Liz Mathew. The apex court noted as on March 22, the total number of criminal appeals was 7,24,192. "Madhya Pradesh has pendency of 1,15,382 cases. Even in smaller states, pendency is high. Patna High Court has pendency of 44,664; Punjab & Haryana High Court has 79, 326 and Rajasthan has pendency of over 56,000 pending cases. Bombay has pendency of 28,257. Chattisgarh more than 18,000 cases. Therefore, this a huge problem faced by all HCs," it said. Aside from the suggestions on mitigating the pendency, the administrative side of the CJI prepared and approved a model action plan for reduction of arrears which was shared with all high courts. Admitting adjournments were one of the main reasons behind the rising pendency, the top court said if high courts upon noting non cooperation by advocates appearing for the accused, should appoint a legal aid lawyer. On the suggestion to appoint adhoc judges for hearing criminal appeals, the bench said the issue was being deliberated upon by chief justice of India with the government and it won't deal with it. The top court said it was necessary for all high courts to incorporate digitisation of criminal records and suggested the use of AI tool Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software to all high court for translation. The apex court asked high courts to place on record the action plans within four weeks from Thursday.
