The maxim of ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ is not an empty truism. Had it been so, the Chief Justice of the High Court of the twin UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh would have not expressed concern and displeasure as well over delays in the disposal of old cases pending for years in different courts. It may be recalled that a similar exercise was conducted last year also and targets were fixed and periodic progress reports were directed to be filed but it appears that either the zeal somewhere got slackened or for reasons beyond control, results on expected lines could not be achieved. Whatever the causes and the reasons, a wave of concern and worry among the litigants was definitely getting nursed about operation of such a mechanism being introduced which could result in the resolution of the problem.
The Chief Justice has once more reiterated that the situation needs to improve considerably for which “Principal District and Sessions Judges would be held personally responsible”. A few months time is all having been fixed for the situation to improve on the ground. Judicial officers have been asked to leave no stone unturned in imparting justice expeditiously. We appreciate the concerns as also steps sought to be initiated in the direction of disposal of long pending cases. The initiative taken by the Chief Justice is also in deference to the stance taken by the Supreme Court on umpteen occasions directing courts across the country to reduce delays to save the faith of common masses getting eroded in the judiciary.
Let us face the facts and traditions as also the general perception people have about court cases. While our judiciary commands lot of respect and confidence of the people as being the ultimate forum to get the justice , at the same time the perception in respect of civil suits and even criminal suits is that it would take years together to get justice dispensed. The fact, however, being that while civil cases are private disputes between persons, families, organisations etc and usually take inordinate time in deciding matters, criminal cases on the other hand are the ones involving offences against the state and actions of the accused being considered prejudicial to the interests of the society need quick disposal. Not to speak of civil suits where both the plaintiff as well the defendant know that it would take years to get the case decided and ‘justice done’, it is really painful that even in criminal cases, decisions do not come in time even in respect of under trials.
Let action plans followed by fixing targets be devised and as now weekly progress reports are sought to be filed about the status of the old cases.
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