The Sad State of the Indian Judicial System

Transparency International has reported that Indians paid US $584 million in bribes to the lower judiciary last year, and 36% of Indians admit to having bribed the judiciary. Civil cases take decades to be heard, and the case backlog is enormous - there are 25 million cases pending in about 13,000 subordinate courts. In 1999, it was estimated that even if no new cases entered the system, at the current rate of disposal of cases, it would take 350 years to clear the backlog. I read recently of a murder case in India where the father of the victim was still waiting for the killer to be convicted 24 years after the crime, and wondered if he'd see justice in his lifetime. No doubt, there are many systemic problems - perhaps there are too few judges and the judges are underpaid - yet, I believe that the quality of a judicial system is determined primarily by the quality of the judges (just as the quality of a school being determined primarily by the quality of its teachers). And the quality of judges is going downhill.

The process of selecting judges has been waylaid by the rich and the influential. Especially the lower judiciary contains many judges who were either the children of judges, or had enough money to bribe their way in. It is not uncommon for the interview-panel that selects judges to ask for money during the interview (In the northern state of Punjab, such a bribery scandal was unmasked in 2002 and judicial appointments for the preceding two years were annulled). The candidate's score on the interview is often based on the amount of the bribe, or the amount of influence the candidate has. Children of judges with law degrees from third-rate law-school often clear the judicial examination with ease.

The quality of judges has a ripple effect on the legal system. Meritoriously selected judges would hold themselves and those around themselves to a higher standard. For example, the success of attorneys in India is largely dependent on their personal relationship with judges - a practice that flourishes because incompetent and unprofessional judges promote it. Meritoriously selected judges would discourage such practices.India needs to raise the quality of judges entering the judiciary - Indians deserve a better deal than the bribery, corruption and delay the current judicial system dishes out.