Justice delayed … but hope lingers

Many of us go through life without having to deal with the law or courts, and get our knowledge from tele-serials and documentaries. Until recently, even I had minimal interactions with law and legal system in India, UK and even the US for minor issues like reporting an accident or for police verification.

You might have walked by derelict buildings or properties around any Indian metropolis and noticed painted signs that state “Stay Order in XYZ court. Case/order # ABC123” and wondered about it. Or you may occasionally come across articles about the Indian judiciary swamped with cases, quoting litigants who talk about ‘years’ or ‘decades’ it took for a verdict. Such news of law or litigation however has little interest to most of us, unless we are at the receiving end; in which case an endless wait for our day in court can be excruciating.

On the face of it, the Indian legal system seems extraordinarily sluggish, with phrases like “justice delayed is justice denied” holding true. My recent brush with the judiciary, however, gave me a ringside view of the machinery at work. After a recent opportunity to sit on proceedings at Karnataka High Court, I came away with an admiration of a system that works, even when it is swamped by the sheer volume of cases.

My Case

I migrated back from America a couple of years ago to be around for my parents. While reviewing the family’s records, found that my dad had bought a parcel of land over two decades ago and had been trying to register in his name unsuccessfully. He had spent substantial sums – to the tune of lakhs of rupees –  pursuing the title registration. It turned out that most of the money spent was in bribes to sundry agents and officials, hoping for positive action.

I decided to pursue the matter further, and I consulted with an attorney who practices in Karnataka’s High Court. After reviewing the land records, he was confident that we could file a writ petition against the State Government asking the local Thasildar (land records department) asking them to register the title to the land in my father’s name. His fee sounded reasonable and he was confident that the matter would be heard and processed expeditiously. That was nearly 1 ½ years ago.

The High Court website – Transparency at work

In the months and weeks after the original filing, I familiarized myself with the High Court’s website and began visiting it periodically. As a technocrat, I was impressed by the usability and ease with which citizen could review the records, judgments and updated case status. I was able to download a copy of the judgment passed in original writ petition and read it in entirety. Likewise, the case status were updated daily and were used by lawyers and the public alike.

The website also publishes a real-time tracker of cases being heard in court halls across the High Court on a specific day. This allows the public and lawyers to look up the “Bulletin Board” on their smartphone and plan their attendance at schedule times.

My day in the court?