CHENNAI, February 6: A combined effort of tapping the experience of retired judges, engaging private lawyers, and constructing special hearing programmes would wipe out the backlog of court cases in India, Circuit executive for the Second Judicial Circuit of the United States, Steven Flanders said on Thursday.``My judicial system will collapse if judges were to retire at the age of 65,'' he said, delivering a lecture on ``Human rights and improvements in administration of justice,'' jointly organised by the United States Information Service and the Madras Bar Association.
Flanders presented the procedures of the United States system in criminal and civil jurisdictions, and cautiously suggested reform measures that would help the Indian system to re-examine itself and re-establish the rule of law in the routine justice delivery operations.
In the context of ensuring human rights, he said the rule of law has to be re-invented every day by lawyers and judicial authorities. A legal system, which isindependent of the legislature and the executive, is not a natural development in any democracy. A focus on human rights demands re-affirmation of routine administration of justice at every level, he asserted.
Outlining the judicial principles in the US, he said if civil cases are not disposed of in a time frame of three years, the situation envisages conceiving a judicial emergency to render justice. More important is the system accountability which leads the authorities to hold monthly review of cases filed, dealt with and kept pending.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
