The Indian judicial system is the Single and Integrated Judicial System: which has provided independence from the constitution itself. India has one of the oldest legal systems in the world with its laws and jurisprudence dating back centuries and evolving like a living way of life with the people of India adapting to the changing times. It's a misconception that the Indian legal system gained a systematic shape and development only during the British rule rather we have a traditional mindset of following laws and regulations and doing our duties for the society which can be inferred from the verses of Manusmriti that Dharma i.e. Rule Of Law is the supreme power in the state and the King is also subject to Law to realize the goal of Dharma. The integrity and the transparency in the judicial system which existed at that time were unparalleled with strict adherence to rules and regulations, which Brihaspati described in ancient Hindu texts as a Judge should discharge his powers as being a deliverer of justice; decide cases without any personal bias or without any expectation of profit following prescribed regulations One of the most striking features of ancient or Vedic judicial system was the Jury System or sabhyas, where councilors or jurors act as the advisers of the king or judge, which is similar to the Jury System in India which existed after the Independence, but was later abolished after the famous KM Nanavati vs State of Maharashtra case (AIR 605 1962 SCR) where initially, Nanavati was declared not guilty but later the verdict was dismissed by Bombay High Court and the case was tried under bench trial. This was the last case to be heard as a jury trial in India because as the result of this case, the government abolished the jury trials in India.

The judicial system stands as the interpreter of the constitution. India maintains a hybrid legal system with a mixture of civil, common, customary ethical, and religious laws within a legal framework inherited from the colonial era and various legislation introduced in the British era the Indian judicial system is one the most diversified ones. It stands as Though it has some scars and some dauntless features to its name. The supreme court stands as the sole institution which has been preventing the thoughts of many religious institutions. It has been appearing out as The Indian legal system is particularly refined, bearing testimony to the ingenuity of human thought. The threads of Constitutional philosophy have woven an exquisite tapestry of substantive and procedural laws-Mr. Ranjan Gogoi-Retired CJI of India stated once.

Lack of infrastructure is one of the most widespread issues with the Indian judicial system with the lack and introduction of modern techniques and technology. The fragmented enclosures of the courts are one of the reasons why not even the civilians let alone the judicial officers and budding new lawyers refrain from practicing there.

Today India dreams of becoming a completely digitized country. We have been successful to a large extent. But strangely enough, the Indian judiciary is left behind. This should not be the scenario. The Indian law system should be completely digitized right from the beginning till the end. This will help in saving a lot of to and fro documentation time.

It would surprise many to know that many court halls and rooms for the registry have not been whitewashed for several years. Broken windows, chairs, shelves, and almirahs are the broken jewels for these temples of justice.

It may seem negative to anyone but now there has been a large-scale up-gradation been made in the Indian courts. The introduction of modern marvels such as escalators, lifts, advanced technologies has been instances of development of infrastructure. Many of the district courts have been upgraded with CCTV camera security. There have been up gradations of technology in many courts. Artificial intelligence solutions have been seen coming through in many courts. The e-challan scheme is one of the biggest shows of artificial intelligence being the new era of the judicial system in India.

India has several courts within its sovereign arena, district and lower courts, 25 high courts, and the honorable Supreme Court delivering justice in every aspect and good conscience, not considering any grounds. The Indian judicial system has never been failing in keeping the constitution’s preamble spirit of equality aside. But in recent times a scenario of pendency of cases has increased, the lack of judges has pumped the number of pending cases before the courts. The pendency of cases is another challenge to the Indian judicial system. Sharing here my personal experience, there was a man seeking justice for the death of her death for the past 10 years! During a discussion organized by the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, it became clear that a large number of criminal cases are being shown as pending because of inadequate or insufficient responses from the prosecution.

India has a Single and Integrated Judicial System. The Constitution establishes a single integrated judicial system for the whole of India. The Supreme Court of India is the country’s highest court, and below it is the High Courts at the state level. Other courts (Subordinate Courts) work under the High Courts. The Supreme Court controls and runs the judicial administration of India. All courts in India form links to a single judicial system.

The major solution for them is more and law graduates coming up and taking challenges for becoming judges. This will increase the number of judges. This is not an easy process. It requires intervention at every step. In fact, at every level, the number of judges needs to be increased including the Supreme Court, the High Court, and the lower court.

The bottlenecks encountered by judges in their day-to-day functioning and their needs need to be taken into account to ease their high-pressure assignment. Some people tend to postpone decisions, but judges cannot afford to do so and must decide several requests and cases every day. A lot of time of judiciary is also spent while taking futile cases and the PILs filed. One such instance to lighten up the moment I would like to share is Recently a woman approached Punjab and Haryana high court seeing the issuance of an arrest warrant against prince harry saying he didn’t fulfill his promise of marrying her done via email. Justice Arvind Singh made a sarcastic statement that her prince harry might be sitting right now in a cyber café. Jokes apart, the kind of futile cases take a lot of time of the court and in turn cause problems to the judicial system.

The introduction of case and court management embedded in the justice delivery system has solved the pendency of cases to an extent for the Indian judiciary. The introduction of Case management is an example of the development of the Indian judiciary.  Now I would like to explain what exactly Case management is. It is a comprehensive system of management of time and events in a lawsuit as it proceeds through the justice system, from initiation to resolution. Recently, The Singapore judiciary has successfully implemented case management, and today its achievements are recognized across the world as we see today.

Sharing a brief about a lecture delivered at the Delhi Judicial Academy about 15 years ago, a federal judge from the United States who practiced case management informed the judges that he started with about 3,000 cases in his jurisdiction and three years reduced this number to about 300. Perhaps none of the judges in the district courts (other than magistrates) have such a large number of cases on their docket. It is possible, therefore, through effective case management, to reduce the workload to manageable limits.

 

Judiciary as the Interpreter of the Constitution and the laws that may seem hard to one The Constitution of India is a written and enacted constitution. The right to interpret and clarify the Constitution has been given to the Supreme Court. It is the final interpreter of the provisions of the Constitution of India. The Constitution of India is the supreme law of the land. The Supreme Court acts as the interpreter and protector of the Constitution. It is the guardian of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the people. For performing this role, it exercises the power of judicial review. The Supreme Court has the power to determine the constitutional validity of all laws. It can reject any such law which is held to be unconstitutional. High Courts also exercise this power. Indian Judiciary had come into existence after India earned its independence in 1947. The laws were made as per the societal condition then. But in recent times, a lot of law has become redundant. Hence, it is time that the Indian Judicial system does away with the archaic laws and takes into consideration the present social condition before giving a judgment.

The legislative government now understands the spoil of time caused by these unwanted archaic laws, and the legislative and judiciary's constant efforts are being made mutually. The recent discussion regarding the removal of section 124A, which talks about offenses committed by bringing hatred or disaffection against the government by different means. The law was primarily formulated during the British era to suppress Indian freedom fighters. Supreme Court has realized the need for its repeal.

The Indian legal system is particularly refined, bearing testimony to the ingenuity of human thought. The threads of Constitutional philosophy have woven an exquisite tapestry of substantive and procedural laws- with keeping this very statement of the Mr.Ranjan Gogoi-Retired CJI of India, hereby I conclude my ideas on the Indian legal system with a concluding note.

The Indian judicial system has its laws compiled completely from society; the laws were formed to portray the very beauty and ethnicity of Indian traditions. The judicial decisions and the precedents of the courts are one of the biggest flex of the notion that the Indian judicial system works not for them but for the citizens to provide justice. The judicial system has been successful in working successfully in delivering justice and maintaining equivalence among all the aspects of the constitution. India being a diversified country having rich cultural and heritage saga and customs to its name, differs from the thought and beliefs but the Indian judicial has always come over these obstacles and that is what makes it the best and one of its kind.

The Indian judicial system is like a growing child and it is developing every day. From the decisions of Keshvanand Bharti to the justice of Nirbhaya, the Indian judiciary has evolved to a large extent. It may have some negative and some positive views but in the conclusion, the judicial system has always been successful in keeping the spirits of justice high.


About the Author: This Legal Article is prepared by Mr. Devranjan Singh Shekawat, a law student from Seedling School of Law & Governance, Jaipur National University. He can be reached at devranjansingh123@gmail.com


MyLawman is now on Telegram (t.me/mylawman) Follow us for regular legal updates. Follow us on Google News, Instagram, LinkedInFacebook & Twitter, or join our WhatsApp group. You can also subscribe to our Newsletter for Email Updates.

 For More Legal Articles, Click Here