In the system of justice provision, it is very important that a person gets justice and on time. Indian legal mechanism is particularly infamous for this particular aspect of delay in justice provision which ultimately defeats if not fully, atleast partially the purpose of the whole trial. If the trial is not made in a speedy manner, it cannot be deemed as fair. The same as has been re-iterated in various Indian pronouncements as well. It is considered to be a fact that any holdup in the court proceedings clearly leads to injustice. An unreasonable delay in providing the judgment is in itself unfair to the party that is accused and he should be discharged of his offence if there does not exist any genuine rationale for the happenings. However, this may not happen in every scenario as such delay may be due to certain extra-ordinary allegations and the only option is the instruction by the court to make the process faster.

Article Authored by: Vibhor Pratap Singh and Suyash Sachan

Delayed justice is the biggest cause of prevalent corruption in the country. Many political leaders are enjoying the chairs of Ministers while a number of cases are pending against them. Are our courts not their accomplice? Why all the harmless in finalization of such case be removed and the lame excuses taken by such politicians for delaying the cases be taken into account? It is unimaginable that how much loss our nation be suffering from ethical and moral point of view at least, because of the delay in disposing of the cases. Innocent person is the worst effected unfortunate, who has to take shelter of the courts for getting justice, which he can never calculate as to when than so called justice be finally arriving. None can compute his worries and the frustrations. Such sufferings and hardships made him to conclude that Delayed Justice is Denied Justice. It is obvious to say that inordinate and unnecessary delay defeats the end of justice. The Apex Court in its various landmark judgments held that "right to speedy trial is a fundamental right which is implicit under Art. 21 of the Constitution."
The heartening factor is that people’s faith in our judicial system continues to remain firm in spite of huge backlogs and delays. It is high time we make a scientific and rational analysis of the factors behind accumulation of arrears and devise specific plan to atleast bring them within acceptable limit, within a reasonable timeframe. We have, however, to find out ways and means to deal with the problem, so as to retain the confidence of our people in the credibility and ability of the system.

Meaning of Delay
The term "delay‟ denotes "a case that has been in the Court or judicial system for longer than the normal time that it should take for a case of that type to be disposed of."1 In an adjudicatory system, whether inquisitorial or adversarial, an expected life span of a case is an inherent part of the system. No one expects a case to be decided overnight. However, difficulty arises when the actual time taken for disposal of the case far exceeds its expected life span and that is when we say there is delay in dispensation of justice.

We are parties to international agreement and treaties like GATT, WTO. We have to march forward with advancement in the fields of science and technology, trade and commerce so as to not only retain but increase our share in prosperity and achievements and for that purpose it would be necessary to have an efficient and effective justice delivery system at affordable costs.

Various Committees to Deal with the Delay
Various committees have been formed to investigate causes of pendency time and again. For instance, Rankin Committee was set up in the year 1924 on delay in civil cases in High Courts and subordinate Courts. Further, a High Court Arrears Committee under the chairmanship of Justice S.R. Das was appointed in 1949. In 1969, Hidayatulla CJ presided over a committee to look into the problem of arrears in all its aspects. Later on, Justice Shah was appointed the Chairman of the Committee. The Committee was known as High Courts Arrears Committee, 1972.

The main stride was made by the committee formed under Justice Malimath. on the recommendations of Malimath Committee amendments were made in 1999 and 2002. It aimed at speedy disposal of cases. The Amendments of 1999 and 2002 were made effective from July 1st, 2002. The suggestions of the committee and resulting amendments thereto are as follows:-
1. Time Limit for filing Written statement, amendments of pleading, issuing summons etc., must be prescribed. It was withdrawn due to pressure from lawyers/advocates.
2. So far as possible parties must try to decide or settle the cases outside the court. A new section, Section 89, was introduced.
3. To record the evidences by issuing the commission instead by presence before the court of law. Commission for collecting evidences can be issued now under section 75 of CPC.
4. Time frame need to be provided for oral argument before the court of law.
5. Restriction on right to appeal.

 

Provisions under Civil Procedure Code relating to Speedy Trial

It is considered to be a fact that any holdup in the court proceedings clearly leads to injustice. An unreasonable delay in providing the judgment is in itself unfair to the party that is accused and he should be discharged of his offence if there does not exist any genuine rationale for the happenings. However, this may not happen in every scenario as such delay may be due to certain extra-ordinary allegations and the only option is the instruction by the court to make the process faster. To further this objective of expediting the legal process, the rights of parties to enter into a compromise or take back their suit is recognized.

1. This is through Order XXII, Rule 3 which "parties either to abandon a claim, or to request the court, to record the compromise between the parties."

2. Through the insertion of Rule 3A, the objective was further bettered as a person cannot appeal from a compromise decree ensuring a trial that is faster and more justice-oriented.

3. one of the cardinal inclusions into this system has been the Section 89 through the amendment of 1999 which provided greater efficiency to the system of Lok Adalats. These changes brought in newer elements that if it known to the court that if a settlement can be brought forward, it shall make the conditions of such a settlement and pass on to both the camps for their analysis. After the court receives such comments, it shall either continue with the settlement or refer to other modes of settlement such as arbitration etc. The focus lies on the point that the courts must be faster in its justice delivery and unnecessary delays must be avoided at all costs. Another prime component of CPC is Summary Procedure.

4. To make sure that the trial process is being done in a quick manner with cases being done with quickly Section 47 of the Code explains that the questions which arise between the two sides of the suit that was passed, or through their legal representatives and in relation to the summation of the decree, shall be pronounced by the court not though any other different suit.

The Code of Civil Procedure has been amended different times and such amendments have brought forward certain changes to ensure that the trial procedure is shortened.
1. The amendment regarding Section 148 was that courts had the authority to expand the required period for an act.
2. The amendment limited it to a month through Section 13 of the Amendment Act in 1999. Also, there was a limit that was fixed towards numerous actions like the time-period for the statement to be made by the defendant and the application for summoning the witness being made.
3. An amendment to Rule 9 and Rule 9A of Order V put into reality the responsibility of putting forward the summons to the defendant. Also, this amendment expressely authorizes the use of newer means of communications like couriers etc.
4. Another important amendment in this respect has been "Section 27 of the CPC (Amendment) Act, 1999 and Section 12 of the CPC (Amendment) Act, 2002": The amendment provided the commissioners with the power to record evidence and such power not to be restrained just to themselves. Prior to this amendment, the judge used to be over-burdened and it was a cause of delay but through such delegation, the process has become much faster.

General Reasons of Delay
Many factors are responsible for delay in dispensation of justice. Some prominent causes of delay are following-
1. Vacancies in Judiciary
This is the most important cause of delay. Now-a-days, this is one of the most debatable issue. Huge number of vacancies poses a major setback for the speedy justice. Even in Supreme Court, sanctioned strength for the judges is 31 while working strength is just 25 that means six posts of judges are still vacant. Perhaps, on this issue both judiciary and executive are at daggers drawn. Few months back, Supreme Court lambasted the Centre and asked "whether the Centre intends to bring the entire judiciary to a grinding halt by sitting on recommendations of the collegium for appointment and transfer of judges to High Courts across the country."2 Further, our country has witnessed a lot of hullabaloo over the issue of NJAC. NJAC i.e. National Judicial Appointment Commission was a proposed body established through Ninty-Ninth Amendment Act, 2015 for the appointment of judges in higher judiciary. But later, NJAC was struck down by Constitution Bench of Supreme Court as unconstitutional. Therefore, Apex Court again upheld the collegium system for appointment of judges. The present NJAC row also crippled the appointment in judiciary.

Moreover, Supreme Court on various occasions rebuked Central Government on its lacklustre attitude on the appointment of judges. While reacting sharply on the issue of appointment of judges, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur said "vacancies in the judiciary, especially state High Courts have become a national challenge, and efforts were being made to persuade the government to expedite the matter. We have been talking very often about pendency of cases in the courts. 80 per cent of the backlog is in eight to nine states. Uttar Pradesh, largest state in terms of population has alone 25 per cent of total pendency followed by other states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal. Burden of backlog on the account of these states brings entire judiciary under criticism as the backlog is huge."3

2. Inadequate number of courts
This is another matter of concern which leads to pendency of cases. Inadequate number of courts proved a major setback for the justice delivery system. Law Commission of India in its Report No. 245 deals with the establishment of additional courts in elimination of delay and speedy clearance of matters. Similarly, Hon‟ble Supreme Court in the matter of Imtiyaz Ahmad v. State of U.P.4 also directed Law Commission for creation of additional courts.

3. Judicial officers not able to tackle those cases involving specialized knowledge
Lack of specialized knowledge on the part of judges directly lays an impact on the justice delivery system. With the advancement of science and technology, many new offences have been emerged e.g. cyber pornography, cyber stalking etc. For dealing with such kind of offences, many Judicial officers are required to have specialized knowledge.

4. Abuse of Public Interest Litigation
Now-a-days, courts are over-flooded with frivolous PILs. Frivolous PIL is not connected with the public interest. But under the guise of PIL, petitioner wants to serve his personal motives and consequently it causes delay in deciding many important cases. Perhaps, for this reason Bhagwati J. cautioned against misuse of PIL in a landmark judgment of Janata Dal v. H. S. Chowdhari5. Therefore, PIL should not be filed for personal and political motives.

5. Lack of adequate arrangement to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing
There is a lack of proper mechanism to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing as a result, it will waste the time of the court and contributes in the pendency of cases.

6. Frequent Transfer of judges
This is another important reason which retards the justice delivery system. Sometimes, the new judge orders for de novo trial which delays the justice delivery process.

7. Role of administrative staff of the court
Role of administrative staff is very significant in speedy disposal of cases. If they don‟t perform their duties properly that will hamper the speedy trial.

8. Large number of appeals
Large number of appeals also impedes the speedy disposal of cases. Courts have to spend their precious time in disposal of the large number of appeals. As a result, courts cannot devote their time in the disposal of other important matters.

Specific Causes of Delay
Apart from the causes of delay which we discussed earlier, there are some specific causes of delay in civil matters. Some of them are following-

Frequent Adjournments
Frequent adjournments slow down the justice delivery system in civil matters. Law Commission of India in its Seventy Seventh Report also mentioned frequent adjournments as an important cause of delay.6Though the Code of Civil Procedure provides that "no such adjournment shall be granted more than three times to a party during hearing of the suit." But unfortunately, our courts don‟t follow this rule properly.

Delay in serving of summons
Summons is a process to compel the attendance of defendant. Order V provides that "when a suit has been duly instituted, a summons may be issued to the defendant to appear and answer the claim." Generally, people try to evade the summons. Consequently, it delays the speedy trial. The Code provides for two kinds of service of summons- personal service and substituted service. In case, defendant tries to avoid the service of summons court must avail Rule 20 of Order V which deals with substituted service. Substituted Service serves a best mode to avoid the delay in service of summons.

Non-examination of process servers
The role of process servers is also very significant to avoid the delay of summons. Sometimes due to their negligence and lethargy, they fail to serve the summons in time. Therefore, there should be proper supervision of process-servers.

Delay in filing Written Statement
Order VIII CPC provides that "defendant should file Written Statement within 30 days from the date of service of summons on him." But this provision is not followed in true letter and spirit. Defendants tend to prolong the matter by not filing written statement in time. As a result, delay in filing written statement contributes in pendency of cases.

Non-appearance of parties at the day fixed for hearing
As per the provisions of CPC, if both the parties don‟t appear on the day fixed for hearing the suit will be dismissed.15 As a result, plaintiff may bring fresh suit or court may restore suit. Similarly, if only defendant appears and plaintiff doesn't appear the court shall dismiss the suit. Therefore, non-appearance of parties at the day fixed for hearing also delays the matter.

Non-compliance of Order X
Order X CPC deals with examination of parties by the court. Law Commission of India in its Seventy Seventh Report says that "in order to make effective use of provisions of Order X, it is essential that trial judge should read in advance the pleadings of the parties and should know the case of each party only then he can put questions and frame issues properly." So, non-compliance of provisions of Order X prolongs the matter. Non-adherence to the provisions of Sec. 89.

Section 89 CPC was inserted through amendment in 2002 which deals with settlement of disputes outside the court. It implies that if the court considers a chance of possible settlement then court should send the dispute for alternative dispute resolution methods rather than doing regular trial. Non-adherence to the provisions of this section also causes delay in civil matters.
 

Non – compliance of some other provisions of CPC, 1908

Non-compliance of provisions of CPC also leads to delay. Courts and judges should abide following provisions of CPC properly in order to avoid delay-
Order XI – Discovery & Inspection
Order XII – Admission
Order XIII – Production, Impounding and Return of Documents
Order XV – Disposal of the suit at the first hearing.
 

Strikes by Lawyers

Legal profession is essentially a service oriented profession. Though the entry to the profession can be made merely by acquiring the requisite qualification, the honour as a professional can be maintained by its members only from their conduct, both in and outside the court. As responsible officers of the court they have an overall obligation of assisting the court in a just and proper manner in the administration of justice.

Important Cases Relating to Delay in Justice
I. A.R. Antulay v R.S. Nayak7
The Constitution Bench in a leading case of Abdul Rehman Antulay v. R.S.Nayak, has formulated certain propositions as guiding principles in this regard. They are as follows:
1. "The right to speedy trial is the right of the accused to be tried speedily as implicit in Article 21 of the Constitution of India spreading over through all stages from investigation, inquiry, trial, appeal, revision and retrial. It is in the interest of all concerned that the guilt or innocence of the accused is determined as quickly as possible in the circumstances.
2. „Systemic delay‟ must be kept in view in dealing with an issue of alleged infringement of the right to speedy trial.
3. The court has to balance and weigh the several relevant factors- „balancing process‟- and determine in each case whether the right to speedy trial has been denied in a given case.
4. Each and every delay does not necessarily prejudice the accused as some delays indeed work to his advantage and „delay is a known defence tactic‟. However, inordinate delay may be taken as presumptive proof of prejudice.
5. If the right to speedy trial is found by the court to have been infringed, the charges or the conviction, as the case may be quashed. However, in cases where quashing of proceedings would not be in the interest of justice, the court may make any other appropriate order as may be deemed just and equitable in the circumstances of the case, like-order to conclude the trial within a fixed time or reducing the sentence where the trial has concluded.
6. It is neither advisable nor practicable to fix any time limit for trial of offences. Any such rule is bound to be qualified one. It is primarily for the prosecution to justify and explain the delay."

II. Ranjan Dwivedi v. CBI8
In Ranjan Dwivedi case, court reiterated the same view that right to speedy trial is a fundamental right. Court held that "A „reasonably‟ expeditious trial is an integral and essential part of the fundamental right to life and liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India."

III. Imtiyaz Ahmad v. State of U.P.9
Hon‟ble Supreme Court in the matter of Imtiyaz Ahmad v. State of U.P. directed Law Commission for creation of additional courts for ensuring expeditious disposal of cases and elimination of delay.

Recommendations
1. Increase in the strength of Judges
The Governments should not allow their financial constraints to come in the way of increase in the strength of judges. As per the information collected by First National Judicial Pay Commission, every state except Delhi has been providing less than 1% of the budget for subordinate judiciary whereas the figure is 1.03% in case of Delhi. In terms of G.N.P., the expenditure on judiciary in our country is hardly 0.2 per cent, whereas it is 1.2 per cent in Singapore, 1.4 per cent in United States of America and 4.3 per cent in United Kingdom.

2. Augmenting Infrastructure
Increase in the number of Judicial officers will have to be accompanied by proportionate increase in the number of court rooms. The existing court buildings are grossly inadequate to meet even the existing requirements and their condition particularly in small towns and moffusils is pathetic. A visit to one of these Courts would reveal the space constraints being faced by them, over-crowding of lawyers and litigants, lack of basic amenities such as regular water and electric supply and the unhygienic and insanitary conditions prevailing therein.

3. Shift System
Establishment of additional courts at any level involves enormous expenditure – capital as well as recurring. Appointment of wholetime staff – judicial and administrative for new courts involves considerable recurring expenditure. on the other hand, if the existing courts could be made to function in two shifts, with the same infrastructure, utilizing the services of retired Judges and Judicial officers, reputed for their integrity and ability, who are physically and mentally fit, it would ease the situation considerably and provide immense relief to the litigants. The accumulated arrears can be liquidated quickly and smoothly.

4. Financial Autonomy
Judiciary is always held responsible for mounting arrears of Court Cases. But it does not control the resources of funds and has no powers to create additional Courts, appoint adequate Court staff and augment the infrastructure required for the Courts. For this reason, the shift system cannot be introduced. The High Courts have power of superintendence over the State judiciary but do not have financial power to create even post of one Subordinate Judge or subordinate staff or to acquire land or purchase building for setting up Courts or for their modernization.

5. Case Management
CASE MANAGEMENT requires early assignment of a case to a judge who then exercises judicial control over the case immediately after it is filed and keeps track of the record at every stage. The Judge applies judicial process to the rival contentions at the earliest stage after filing of the written statement and requires and enforces active participation and joint communication amongst the parties and their lawyers for the smooth progress of the case. Case management technique mobilizes early preparation of respective cases by the parties and their lawyers by requiring them to identify the real controversies in the case and seeking early response from the other sides on the questions of facts and law raised by the opponents; this is done effectively utilizing procedures laid down by Civil Procedure Code. It requires submission of separate case management statements by each party and enforces the other side to answer any of the requisitions, if any made by each party and, in addition, provides sanctions for non-compliance.

6. ADR methods and Lok Adalats
The alternative modes of disputes resolution include arbitration, negotiation, mediation and conciliation. The ADR system by nature of its process is totally different from Lok Adalat. In Lok Adalat, parties are encouraged to come to compromise and settlement on their own, whereas in the mediation and conciliation system, the parties have before them many alternatives to solve their difference or disputes. Instead of obtaining a judgment or decision, the parties through ADR might agree for a totally new arrangement, not initially agreed or documented.

7. Modernisation and Computerisation of Courts
Using various I.T. tools it is possible to carry out bunching/grouping of the cases involving same question of law. If this is done, all such cases can be assigned to the same Court, which can dispose them of by a common Order. If point of law involved in the matter is identified in each case, it is possible to allocate subsequently cases involving the same question of law to the same Court, for being heard along with the previously instituted case. Video Conferencing can be done.

8. Setting up of Gram Nyayalaya
Gram Nyayalaya are established under Gram Nyayalaya Act, 2008. They are basically village courts which are meant to ensure expeditious disposal of petty matters at rural level. But the problem is that only few Gram Nyayalaya are working in the country so far. Therefore, there is a need for setting up of more village courts for speedy and easy access to justice at rural level.

9. Training of Judges and Judicial staff
Regular training and orientation sharpens the adjudicatory skills of Judicial officers. A good training programme serves the futuristic needs of the system by improving the potential to optimum level. If judgments at the level of trial courts are of a high quality, the number of revisions and appeals may also get reduced. If the Judge is not competent he will take longer time to understand the facts and the law and to decide the case. The training needs to include Court and Case Management besides methods to improve their skills in hearing cases, taking decisions, writing judgments. It is also necessary to train Judicial officers in the new legislations and the expanding field of trade and commerce so as to keep them well informed and enable them to handle new and complicated legal issues in an efficient manner.

10. Other suggestions to ensure expeditious disposal of cases –
a. Adherence of Alternate Dispute Resolution systems including arbitration, conciliation, mediation as provided under Sec. 89 CPC
b. Check on unnecessary adjournments
c. Proper adherence to the provisions of C.P.C.1908 and Cr. P.C. 1973
d. Minimizing the delay in service of summons and filing of written statement in civil matters

Conclusion
We can conclude from the above discussion that we should not resort in extra-ordinary hurry-up of cases by whatever means. As justice delayed is justice denied, similarly, the saying, justice hurried is justice buried is equally true. Therefore, sufficient, reasonable and due hearing of every cases with consideration of its circumstances is the necessary requirement of natural justice and balance of convenience. In fact, the untiring efforts put by fear and flavourless Indian Judiciary is doing commendable job of imparting justice inspite of so many difficulties, which created faith of public in the rule. of law is a great achievement, which really requires deep appreciation.

Long delay has also the effect of defeating justice in quite a number of cases. As a result of such delay, the possibility cannot be ruled out of loss of important evidence, because of fading of memory or death of witnesses. The consequences thus would be that a party with even a strong case may lose it, not because of any fault of its own, but because of the tardy judicial process, entailing disillusionment to all those who at one time, set high hopes in courts. The problem of delay and huge arrears stares us all and unless we can do something about it, the whole system would get crushed under its weight. We must guard against the system getting discredited and people losing faith in it and taking recourse to extra legal remedies with all the sinister potentialities. I will conclude by referring to the observation made by Justice Warran Burger, former Chief Justice of the American Supreme Court observed in the American context:
"...The notion – that ordinary people want black-robed judges, well dressed lawyers, fine paneled courtrooms as the setting to resolve their disputes, is not correct. People with legal problems. like people with pain, want relief and they want it as quickly and inexpensively, as possible,"

Endnotes
1. Law Commission of India, Report No. 245, Arrears and Backlog: Creating Additional Judicial manpower, July 2014.
2. Supreme Court pulls up Centre for sitting on Collegium list available at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/cji-slams-centre-over-recommendations-of-collegium-on_judges/article8979565.ece accessed on August 13, 2016.
3. Vacancies in judiciary a national challenge, says CJI TS Thakur available at http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/vacancies-in-judiciary-a-national-challenge-says-cji-t-s-thakur-2985733/ accessed on August 20, 2016.
4. AIR SC 2012 642
5. 1992 (4) SCC 653
6. Law Commission of India, Seventy Seventh Report, Delay and Arrears in Trial Courts, November 1978.
7. (1992) 1 SCC 225
8. SCC (2012) 8 495
9. AIR SC 2012 642