Thursday, March 15, 2012

Indian Legal System-root of all political and economic evils

In an era where the Supreme Court is the 'last man standing' when it comes to institutional integrity, this post may seem weird. But the Supreme Court does not reflect system at large. There are other reasons for the evils like police being under State control etc but this post focusses on the legal reasons.
  1. Law is too complex for laypersons to understand. While one cannot simplify the law beyond a point and that is why we need experts, there is a case for legal inclusion(demystifying the law) similar to financial inclusions
  2. Too many procedures make subordinate courts hot bed of corruption-this is true for getting certified copies, hearing dates and other small things. 
  3. Criminals are our elected legislators and pending cases take time-this is a root cause for criminalization of politics. While one must admit that people are presumed innocent unless proven guilty, there should be a self censorship for serial offenders. 
  4. Senior Advocates rarely take probono cases/PILs and milk the title for charging higher fees. Nothing wrong with that from business standpoint, but why should someone use a public office(like Senior Advocate) for private benefit in terms of fees? But if someone uses a lesser known advocate, judicial officers may not give them a fair hearing in the era of uncle judges.
  5. Our worst functioning and scam ridden markets like real estate, mining are because of legal imperfections in land registry, government regulation etc.
  6. Our judges work quite hard(in any terms, hours worked/judgements passed etc) compared to international standards and for much lower pay, but this is not showing up in the backlog. 
  7. Thanks to multiple adjournments and other dilatory tactics causing the backlog to pile up even more,  lawyers can rack up their per hearing fee(since the Bar Council does not permit contingency fees that would give incentive to finish the case fast). While tax laws have the 3 adjournment limit, this is yet to be applied for other laws. Sunny Deol's famous 3min monologue in the film Damini 'Tareekh pe Tareekh' is still relevant today.
  8. Courts still interpret laws assuming that the legislature knows the law/acts in the interest of the public etc, but in an era where laws are passed without debate and with little scrutiny even by House Committees, where Opposition views are steamrollered, should not the principles of interpretation be thought over again?

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