LEGAL “VALUE CHAIN” – NOW A “LIABILITY CHAIN”

The absence of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) across court processes has resulted in a staggering backlog of 45 million pending cases. Ill-intended adjournments alone are estimated to cause an annual economic loss of $200 billion in India.

India proudly claims to be the world’s largest democracy, with no history of coups or attempts to overthrow its government since independence. However, its judiciary, a cornerstone of its democracy, struggles to deliver justice efficiently. For the common man, seeking justice often means compromising with “delayed justice and high litigation costs,” as there are no better alternatives.

This write-up questions the value of legal redressal when justice is not delivered within a reasonable timeframe. Justice delayed is indeed justice denied. Delayed justice often loses its meaning and purpose, as harm is compounded over time. This document focuses on highlighting the menace of ill-intended adjournments and quantifying their adverse impact on national growth and GDP.

Frequent adjournments sought by lawyers significantly hinder India’s economy, obstruct growth, deter investment, and reduce overall efficiency. The case backlog across the judiciary—from Subordinate Courts to the Supreme Court—creates bottlenecks in dispute resolution, affecting individuals, businesses, and the government.

The primary reason for the mounting backlog of 45 million cases is the lack of SLAs between courts, advocates, and judges. Adjournments due to unprepared lawyers or their failure to appear in court are commonplace. These adjournments are often maliciously intended, with lawyers weaponizing them to harass the opposing party. Unfortunately, judges frequently accept this practice as routine, avoiding any admonishment of such behaviour.

Consider the financial burden on a common man when a case is adjourned due to an unprepared lawyer, an absent judge, or lack of notification from the court.

Given that nearly 50% of India’s population resides in villages, it is likely that one of the parties must travel from a rural area to the city or even to the state capital for a court hearing. It is also common to see numerous policemen traveling from their stations to appear in court on behalf of their departments.

Take, for example, a high court case involving a private bank that was adjourned eight consecutive times due to the defending lawyer’s absence or adjournment requests. The complainant, an NRI investor, travelled from his home city each time, only to find that his case, filed two years ago, has yet to be heard.

Similarly, complainants frequently incur significant expenses traveling across the country, only to find the courts closed due to lawyer strikes.

The so-called “value chain” of legal processes quickly transforms into a “liability chain” when key players, such as lawyers, judges, or court staff, arbitrarily choose not to appear or seek adjournments. Every such instance causes loss to one or more entities in the chain—be it court staff, judges, lawyers, complainants, defendants, witnesses, or police officers.

Soon to be published next section of this article quantifies the annual economic losses caused by ill-intended adjournments and explores their detrimental effect on India’s GDP.