There is a lot of focus on access to justice and very little on the quality of justice itself. What we come across is a real sense of disenchantment with the existing justice system, and the need of the hour is a holistic approach to the justice delivery system.
On the 9th of November, National Legal Services Day is celebrated across the country, reinforcing its commitment to ensuring access to justice for all without any discrimination. This day marks the enactment of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, which aims to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of society. Legal aid facilitates access to justice through the provision of legal awareness, legal advice, mediation, and legal representation before courts.
Legal aid services begin with legal aid awareness programs. People are empowered when they are aware of their rights. When they are aware of their rights, they will start asserting them by taking formal legal recourse. For this, we need proper arrangements where we can contest our rights, such as before courts of law.
Despite the prevalence of justifiable problems that require legal recourse, only a few escalate the legal issue to the point of seeking formal legal intervention. Why is there inhibition among people from taking their legal problems to court? People may have access to justice but still do not take legal recourse. In present times, access to justice is not the only problem; the quality of justice has become a problem in the justice delivery system. The long-drawn trials have prevented people from accessing courts for legal redress.
The quality of justice has become an impediment to justice. When we file cases before the courts, the real nightmare begins for the clients. There is a need for a paradigm shift in the justice delivery system.
The government can provide free legal aid to deserving individuals, but if there is a court without a judge, what is the point of providing legal aid? We see that the ratio of judges to the population is very low, leading to a backlog of cases, with some courts functioning without permanent judges.
Similarly, if the police and prosecution do not cooperate properly with courts in executing court orders, such as executing warrants within and outside states or securing the presence of witnesses, it creates another bottleneck that reduces the speed of the justice delivery system. This requires the cooperation of institutions.
Advocates, who are part of the justice delivery system, and officers of the court, are the core pillars for the smooth functioning of the justice delivery system. The culture of adjournments and the misuse of legal provisions by advocates is another cause for delays in the justice delivery system.
There are other factors that have led the justice delivery system to become a dysfunctional institution with little hope, making it more like a nightmare when it comes to thinking about courts.
Way Forward
The need of the hour is that there should be the same emphasis on increasing the quality of justice as we focus on access to justice. The different limbs of the justice delivery system should work in sync with each other; otherwise, justice remains a distant dream. The government and judiciary need to focus on improving the quality of justice just as they focus on access to justice. Only then will the legal aid movement attain its goal.
The writer practises law at the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakah
By Advocate Nasir Ul Islam
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