Black Coat Syndrome

Syllabus: Polity and Governance

Context

• The President of India Droupadi Murmu, in her address at the National Conference of District Judiciary coined the phrase ‘black coat syndrome’ to draw attention to the perennial problem of pendency in courts.
  • She compared it to the ‘white coat syndrome’ patients feel in hospitals.

About

• Flagging the “culture of adjournment” in deciding cases, the President said that the poor from the villages are still anxious to approach courts as they feel that fighting for justice will make their lives even more difficult.
• The President highlighted that justice should not be delayed, especially in cases involving women and children.

Challenges in the Judicial System of India

• Pendency of cases: As of October 2023, the ‘State of the Judiciary’ report points out that there are over five crore pending cases across all higher and subordinate courts in India.
  • To handle them, however, there are only 20,580 judges working in the Supreme Court, the high courts and district courts.
• Infrastructure: Many courts lack basic infrastructure and technology, which can hinder their efficiency.
  • As per the National Judicial Data Grid, 19.7% of district courts did not have separate toilets for women as of September 2023.
• Judicial vacancies: As of October 2023, against the sanctioned strength of 1,114 judges in the high courts across the country, as many as 347 positions are vacant.
  • Similarly, in the district judiciary, out of the total sanctioned strength of 25,081 judges, as many as 5,300 district judges’ positions are vacant. 
• Inclusivity: India’s highest court presently has only three female judges (9.3%).
  • In high courts, there are only 103 female judges (13.42%).
  • The district judiciary, however, shows considerable improvement with the strength of 36.33% female judges.

Initiatives taken address the issue

• Leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT);
  • The Electronic Supreme Court Reports (e-SCR) project is an initiative to provide the digital version of the apex court’s judgments.
  • Virtual court system: The regular court proceedings are being carried out virtually via videoconferencing. 
  • eCourts portal: It is a one-stop solution for all stakeholders like the litigants, advocates, government agencies, police, and common citizens.  
  • National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG): The statistics of cases pending at the national, state, district and individual court level are now made accessible to the general public, researchers, academicians and the society at large.
• National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms (2011):  It was launched with the objectives of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears in the system.
• Alternative Dispute Resolution(ADR): Lok Adalats, Gram Nyayalayas, Online Dispute Resolution, etc., are used to ensure timely justice. 
• Commercial Courts Act 2015 stipulates mandatory pre-institution mediation and settlement of commercial disputes.
• Fast Track courts: Fast track courts are being set up to expedite the justice delivery and reduce the pendency of cases involving heinous crimes, senior citizens, women, children, etc.

Way Ahead

• Workload and Capacity: The Chief Justice of India, said that the courts must operate beyond their current capacity of 71% to match case disposal rates with the inflow of new cases.
• Judicial Vacancies: Judicial vacancies in district courts stand at 28%.
  • Standardizing the judicial recruitment calendar is suggested as a solution to fill vacancies and maintain a consistent flow of recruits.
• National Integration of Judicial Recruitment: The Chief Justice emphasized the need for national integration of judicial recruitment.
  • Judicial recruitment to district courts should no longer be restricted by regionalism or State-centered selection processes.
• District-level Case Management Committees: These committees should be established to, Identify target cases, reconstruct records and manage cases efficiently at the district level.
• Pre-litigation dispute resolution can help reduce the backlog of cases.
  • In a recent Lok Adalat conducted by the apex court, around 1,000 cases were resolved amicably within 5 working days.
• The Malimath Committee, 2003 in its report recommended that the period of vacation should be reduced by 21 days, keeping in mind the long pendency of cases. 
• The perceived gap between the district judiciary and the High Courts needs to be addressed. This gap is seen as a remnant of colonial subordination and should be resolved to create a more unified judicial system.

Source: TH