At 9:28 PM -0700 4/8/05, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
"About 36,000 cases of the State Government are
pending in both the Supreme Court and the Gauhati High Court." -- these are law suits that the state government of Assam filed against someone or other, or were filed against the government. Then there are other lawsuits that the citizens have filed against each other. The report only talks about the High Court and the Supreme Court. Remember there are lower courts also. So the situation is definitely dire.
*** Very well observed! I agree.
But there is more to it. The SC is now bogged down by its own
doing--of accepting cases that should have been dealt with by the
legislative and executive branches. Even though the SC means
well in taking on issues that sometimes effect the ordinary man so
terribly, that if it did not there would be no recourse left; it is
also making itself increasingly less and less effective.
It also has demonstrated, that in the process it has undermined
democracy, as is evident in the riverlinking issue; where the
passing comments of a SC Chief Justice on the way out to the pasture
were interpreted by an administration as an edict, to pursue a
politically inspired agenda to the possibility of great long term
national harm. While the same administration and its successors have
deftly avoided implementing a democratically passed law -- on the
public's right to information -- and have ignored an SC order to its
implementation, with impunity.
Obviously some things are terribly wrong with the system for such
abominations to democratic norms to be accepted as routine.
Does anyone how the numbers compare against the number of lawsuits in a typical american state, say for example New York? I tried to get some information via the internet but did not get anything comprehensive.
*** Such comparisons of backlogs would tell us little. The
real useful information to find out would be to:
Those alone would tell us what the QUALITY of justice is. You can
have no backlog at all, but without any conviction, no one could be
held accountable, and the system would prove its utter
impotency.
Now, the question arises how many of these lawsuits are frivolous. Is it time for some tort reform in India? Litigation is a right provided in democracy. Is it being abused by the litigants?
*** Again. if the system is being abused, it could be ascertained
ONLY from the results. And just because the executive branch may not
be able to prove something in court or meet the standards of proof set
by law, would NOT necessarily mean a case would be FRIVOLOUS. It
might merely affirm the administration's , the executive branch's
incompetence.
The other question is - are there too many lawyers in Assam (and India) and what we are seeing is a proliferation of the legal industry?
*** As things stand this is hardly an issue. It could be, but
only after the system becomes barely functional.
Dilip
================================================================
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dear Netters:
The following from tonight's Sentinel.
Do people wonder what this means? It means that the means of democratic
societies for holding people accountable do not work. It is an
example of a dysfunctional govt. Something that direly needs
reforming, or so one might think. What do our friends think? Am I
proposing something subversive, as I get charged for when, I present
such ideas?
cm
36,000 cases pending against State Govt
By a Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, April 8: About 36,000 cases of the State Government are
pending in both the Supreme Court and the Gauhati High Court.
Disclosing this on the floor of the House today, Assam Law Minister
Dinesh Prasad Goala, in reply to a query from Independent MLAPabindra Deka, said that the Government had already appointed
contact officers in the various departments concerned for the speedy
disposal of these cases.
Goala said that as many as 35,780 cases are pending at the High
Court while a total of 146 cases are waiting to be settled at the
Supreme Court. The Government has incurred an expenditure of Rs
42.38 lakh on lawyers' expenses, the minister said, adding that an
amount of Rs 69.90 lakh has been incurred on litigation at the
Supreme Court.
On the other hand, Minister of State for Home Rockybul Hussain
informed the House that data relating to the pending cases against
ministers and MLAs was still in the process of being collected. In
reply to another question from Deka, Hussain said that though the
Government had earlier decided to withdraw 39 pending cases against
ministers and MLAs, the decision had since been revoked.
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