'Pendency' not an accurate word for subjudice matters: CJI Ramana

Chief Justice of India NV Ramana has taken an objection on how pending cases in India are being projected and said the system to evaluate such figures was "not accurate". Pendency refers to all cases which have not yet been disposed of, without any reference to how long the case has spent in the judicial system. Rather, it is important to reduce 'arrears' and 'backlogs' in the system," he said.

Hyderabad:Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Saturday took strong objection on how pending cases in India were projected and said the system to evaluate such figures was "not accurate."

Delivering his keynote address at the India-Singapore Mediation Summit 'Making Mediation mainstream: Reflections from India and Singapore', CJI Ramana said the often-quoted statistic that "pendency" in Indian Courts has reached 45 million cases is perceived as the inability of the Indian judiciary to cope with the caseload. "This is an overstatement and an uncharitable analysis," he said.

"The term pendency is used to refer to all cases which have not yet been disposed of, without any reference to how long the case has spent in the judicial system. This would mean, that a case which was filed yesterday gets added to the pendency statistic. This is, therefore, not a useful indicator of how well, or poorly, a system is doing. Rather, it is important to reduce 'arrears' and 'backlogs' in the system," he said. Arrears refer to delays that are unwarranted while backlogs refers to a situation where the number of cases instituted in a period is more than the number of cases disposed of in the same period. "Every delay is not an arrear. Some cases of delay might be due to valid reasons," he said.

While admitting that judicial delays was a complex issue, CJI Ramana said, "...this problem is not just in India. Several factors contribute towards such a situation. One of them is an Indian phenomenon called ‘luxurious litigation’. It is a specific type of litigation wherein parties with resources attempt to frustrate the judicial process and delay it by filing numerous proceedings across the judicial system. Undeniably, the prevailing pandemic has also contributed to our woes," he said, adding that the sheer number of cases in the Indian judicial system may have to be viewed in the context that India is the largest democratic republic in the world.

Lauds Indian judiciary

Praising the Indian judicial system, the CJI said it is unique not only because of a written Constitution but also because of the immense faith reposed by the people in the system. "People are confident that they will get relief and justice from the judiciary. It gives them the strength to pursue a dispute. They know that when things go wrong, the judiciary will stand by them. The Indian Supreme Court is the guardian of the largest democracy. The Constitution gives wide ranging powers and jurisdiction to do complete justice between the parties to bring to life the motto of the Indian Supreme Court, 'Yato Dharma Sthato Jaya' (Where there is dharma, there is victory)."

He said the people believe in the Constitutional project of which the judiciary is an integral part. "Judges in India, particularly in the Constitutional Courts, often burn the midnight oil to meet their judicial and administrative caseload," he said.