Impediments to Justice Access
FACTORS INHIBITING ACCESS TO JUSTICE
A number of obstacles conspire against access to justice. While some of these obstacles are substantive in nature, others are procedural and yet others have their roots in the present political and economic system. We shall here examine some of these factors to see how they have continued to inhibit access to justice.
1. Delay In The Administration Of Justice * Very often, we see ordinary cases of unlawful termination of employment or even those for the enforcement of fundamental rights lasting between three to five years or even more. A number of circumstances could give rise to this delay: lawyers writing letters of adjournment of cases, inability of judges and magistrates to deliver judgments on time, failure of the police or prison authorities to produce accused persons in court for trial, the rule that once a magistrate or judge is transferred and a new one takes over a case, it has to start de novo, etc. * Here are many causes of delay in the judicial process: some of these are endemic in the system like highly technical and complicated rules of procedure, while others are caused by operatives of the system, those who serve court processes, the lawyers who ask for unending adjournments of cases, and judges who lack the virtue of promptness. * While it may be conceded that some delay may be unavoidable in civil or criminal proceedings, since the parties are to be given “adequate time and facilities” for the preparation of their cases, it becomes offensive and injurious to the due administration of justice when delay is inordinate. In this connection, the courts should consider seriously the issue of applications for adjournment of cases, and it may be suggested that adjournments designed to aid the due process of litigation should be considered, while those dictated by sheer laziness or a failure to grasp the real issues in dispute
A number of obstacles conspire against access to justice. While some of these obstacles are substantive in nature, others are procedural and yet others have their roots in the present political and economic system. We shall here examine some of these factors to see how they have continued to inhibit access to justice.
1. Delay In The Administration Of Justice * Very often, we see ordinary cases of unlawful termination of employment or even those for the enforcement of fundamental rights lasting between three to five years or even more. A number of circumstances could give rise to this delay: lawyers writing letters of adjournment of cases, inability of judges and magistrates to deliver judgments on time, failure of the police or prison authorities to produce accused persons in court for trial, the rule that once a magistrate or judge is transferred and a new one takes over a case, it has to start de novo, etc. * Here are many causes of delay in the judicial process: some of these are endemic in the system like highly technical and complicated rules of procedure, while others are caused by operatives of the system, those who serve court processes, the lawyers who ask for unending adjournments of cases, and judges who lack the virtue of promptness. * While it may be conceded that some delay may be unavoidable in civil or criminal proceedings, since the parties are to be given “adequate time and facilities” for the preparation of their cases, it becomes offensive and injurious to the due administration of justice when delay is inordinate. In this connection, the courts should consider seriously the issue of applications for adjournment of cases, and it may be suggested that adjournments designed to aid the due process of litigation should be considered, while those dictated by sheer laziness or a failure to grasp the real issues in dispute