Delay in disposing cases is 'Judge inflicted injustice'

Bangalore, Apr 6 (UNI) Lamenting that delay in disposal of cases itself amounts to injustice, former Karnataka and Kerala Chief Justice V S Malimath today said the delay caused by administrative judiciary is nothing but 'Judge inflicted injustice'.

Delivering the Presidential address at the 4th Regional Judicial Education Programme on 'Techniques and Tools for Arrears and Delay Reduction', organised by National Judicial Academy and Karnataka Judiciary Academy (KJA), he said asset of the judiciary was the confidence people reposed on it. However, lately the confidence had been shaken due to inordinate delays and piling up of cases in the Indian courts.

''People do not enjoy the same confidence in administration of justice like before. Two maladies that have shaken their confidence are inordinate delay and huge arrears of cases and conduct of the Judges,'' he opined.

Former Human Rights Commission Chairman Dr Malimath called upon the judicial fraternity to espouse motivation, passion and take duties to their heart. This would help bring down the backlog of cases, he said.

Expressing displeasure over High Courts not exercising their rights sufficiently in directly appointing the judicial officers, he said some High Courts still depended on UPSC for appointment of the officers. Vacancies of Judges had been a major problem the judiciary faced in disposing off the arrears and there was an urgent need to streamline the problem of timely appointments, he added.

He said the other problem the judiciary facing was the quality of new recruits. ''Integrity and quality of candidates matter the most when we induct a judge. Direct recruitment of law graduates as judicial officers is wrong as experience is extremely important for Judges. Appointments should be made by choosing candidates from the Bar as judicial requirement is different than that of IAS or IPS cadre,'' he added.

Similarly training was important to transform a recruit into a good judge, he added.

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