The government introduced three bills in the recently concluded monsoon session of the Parliament. These bills propose to replace the Indian Penal Code 1860 (IPC), The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), and The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (IEA). The objectives of these bills are:
· Streamline provisions relating to offenses and penalties; increase the scope of summary trials; make various offenses gender neutral; deal effectively with the problem of organized crimes and terrorist activities, new offenses of terrorist acts and organized crime have been added in the Bill with deterrent punishments, and introduce community service as punishment for first time petty crimes;
· Increased use of technology and electronic communication in the investigation of crimes and the trial process;
· Provision to include electronic and digital records and virtual testimony.
Admittedly, it is a recent event and I have not studied the newly introduced bills in great detail. However, I gather from my study of new provisions that these bills merely seek to incrementally improve the operations of the extant laws by incorporating new crimes; eliminating some redundancies; and integrating the use of technology in the justice delivery system. There is nothing to suggest any transformative change. Besides, CrPC and IPC deal with criminal matters only. A larger problem exists in the settlement of civil disputes, for which nothing is proposed.
In my view, these changes could bring some incremental improvement in the extant justice delivery system. However, to bring a transformative change, which is critical to the growth and development of Indian society, our judicial system needs some radical changes. We need to build a justice delivery system that is premised on trust rather than suspicion.
Based on my numerous discussions with the citizens, community associations, business associations, etc., I have collected some thoughts about a transformed justice delivery system. Again, some readers may find it utopian, but I have a strong belief that a system based on these lines could be very effective and transformative. Of course, these are some preliminary ideas that would need to be refined and structured to build a robust justice delivery and compliance ecosystem.
Promote citizen courts
As I suggested last week (see here), there is strong evidence of numerous democratic assemblies operating within various communities, businesses, and localities. I discovered that most citizens not only feel comfortable working with the members of their own community but are usually most compliant and productive when operating within the network of their “Own people” or "Community". This community bonding is popularly used for resolving disputes within the community. We need to expand this system of mutual trust-based justice delivery and compliance enforcement system by according to it a constitutional and legal status.
To this effect, I suggest the following—
Community courts
· Make a constitutional provision to recognize community and business associations as authorized dispute-resolving institutions with a right to pass legally enforceable orders in respect of all disputes involving their respective members.
· Allow social community associations, business associations, RWAs, etc. having prescribed bye laws, rules, and regulations, to register with an autonomous Citizen Justice Authority (CJA).
· CJA shall assign a judicial officer, who could be a retired magistrate, judge or senior advocate etc., to assist such association in the discharge of their dispute resolution duties.
· Allow such association to adjudicate all civil disputes, divorce cases, and petty crimes (upto 6months sentence), etc. The order/award of association should be filed with CJA and become enforceable as an order of a competent court. Only orders relating to disputes above the prescribed amount (say Rs. 25lacs) should be appealable in a high court.
Police courts
· Assign two judicial officers – one Magistrate and one prosecutor - to every key police station (say ACP level) permanently.
· These judicial officers shall work 9 AM to 6 PM every day; and adjudicate all petty crimes (theft, brawls, injuries, accidents, etc.) and disputes not referred to a community court, at the police station itself within a week of the reporting of a crime.
· These judicial officers should also hold frequent meetings with the local residents, schools, and businesses to guide them about the importance of compliance, law & order, etc.
· All orders of such police station courts should be filed with CJA. Any aggrieved person may apply to CJA for reassessment. If CJA finds merit in such appeal, it may refer the matter to a higher court for a detailed trial.
Advance Ruling system
· The duration of law courses may be extended by one year. In the final year, all students shall be required to undergo a mandatory internship with a district or local court. All candidates selected for judicial postings must be mandatorily required to serve one-year internship with a high court. All designated senior advocates and magistrates getting promoted to sessions court shall serve one year of internship with the Supreme Court.
· It must be made mandatory for all lawyers to submit a complete petition with all supporting documentary evidence, affidavits, and transcripts of the key witness statements at the time of filing of the petition itself.
· The interns assigned to various courts shall study these petitions carefully and prepare a draft judgment. They may seek additional details from parties if required.
· This draft judgment shall then be perused by the respective judges; and if found prima facie acceptable, shall be communicated to the respective parties. If all the parties accept the draft judgment, the same should be pronounced as final; else the regular proceedings should commence. A rate of 35-40% acceptance could substantially reduce the justice delivery time for all.
· This could be extremely useful in civil and revenue matters, where most of the evidence is available at the outset.
· The State should normally not object to draft rulings.
Strong perjury law
· In the absence of a strong perjury law, it is common to see witnesses, complainants, and accused blatantly making false statements, furnishing forged documents, presenting false witnesses, etc.
· A strong perjury law, providing for similar punishment for perjury as may be applicable to the underlying crime, may prevent numerous frivolous and false cases.
Legal education
· The new education policy may consider introducing small courses at the primary and middle school levels to educate students about (a) the importance of compliance; and (b) making them aware of various laws that exist to help and protect them.
· The local police officers, regulatory bodies, and community associations should be mandatorily required to hold training sessions for students in their jurisdiction to make them aware of the importance of compliance with tax laws, traffic rules, civic rules like no-smoking, no-littering etc.; rights of equality, respect for other genders, castes, religions etc.
· Schools should be mandatorily required to engage with all the parents with compliance training.
· All students must be given lessons on traffic rules, cleanliness, primary healthcare and gender equality.
Pragmatic regulation
· All regulatory compliance norms should be pragmatic and based on the behavior of the majority that is compliant rather than the behavior of the minority that is non-compliant.
· Compliance rules should avoid micro-regulation and should regularly review the norms for redundancy.
State Appeals
· The Indian state is inarguably the single largest litigant. The appeals filed by the State against decisions of various courts, regulators, revenue authorities, etc. constitute a significant part of the outstanding cases in various higher courts.
· It would be extremely beneficial if the rules for appeal by the State are made much more stringent. Appeal by the State in revenue and criminal cases should be an exception rather than a rule, as is the case presently.
These suggestions are meant only to be a starting point for a larger debate on the justice delivery system and compliance reforms in India. Readers are welcome to add suggestions, ideas, and views based on their experiences.
Also read
Battle Ground 2024 - Forces are aligned
Battle Ground 2024 - The Narrative and Rhetoric
Battle Ground 2024 – The Problems
Battle Ground 2024 – In search of solutions
Battle Ground 2024 – Political solutions
Battle Ground 2024 – Political Reforms
Battle Ground 2024 – Justice delivery, Jugaad & Non-Compliance
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