From News Dispatches MADRAS: Two Supreme Court judges and the Chief Justice of two High Courts fervently appealed to lawyers and judges to take immediate steps to prevent the collapse of the legal administration in the country.
Speaking at the centenary celebrations of the Madras High Court Advocates Association, Supreme Court judges, S. Natarajan and S. Ratnavelpandian, Gujarat High Court Justice P.R. Gokulakrishnan and the Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice V. Ramaswamy said that a catastrophe would befall the judicial system within the next two years unless urgent steps were taken to provide anew orientation and approach to the system.
Justice Ratnavelpandian said that the judicial system was passing through a very critical phase, and as far as the common man was concerned, courts had become a maze from which he could never get out once entered. Lawyers and the judges could not afford to remain in their ivory towers oblivious to the social needs.
Justice S. Natarajan said that the existing system was not adequately equipped to meet the present needs especially the increasing number of litigations. Despite the number of special tribunals being constituted, people had to wait for a long time for final disposition of their litigations, and this presented a strong case for changes in the civil procedure code, he said.
He suggested the appointment of advocate commissioners to record evidences from witnesses as a means of lessening the burden on the courts and quicker disposal of cases.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 22, 1989
