[Docket exclusion] In North India, North Karnataka people don't know their rights at all, suffer in silence: Justice S Abdul Nazeer

While docket explosion is a major problem which leads to mounting arrears in Indian courts, Supreme Court judge Justice S Abdul Nazeer also highlighted another issue, albeit a contrasting one - docket exclusion..He lamented that docket exclusion is a more serious problem since people are in dark about their rights and end up suffering in silence.This is especially true in north India and even north Karnataka, he said.“But docket exclusion is more serious than docket explosion. In North Karnataka, North India people don’t know their rights at all. I am watching these things since I became Supreme court judge. People are suffering in silence. Something has to be done fundamentally,” he said.Justice Nazeer was speaking at the inauguration of the Bar Association building in Belthangady on Wednesday when he chose to highlight the issues of docket explosion and docket exclusion..On the pendency of cases in the country, Justice Nazeer acknowledged that population increase and proportional decrease in number of judges was one reason, but not the only cause for pendency. He opined that pendency was on the rise due to continued implementation of the colonial legal system.“Just imagine a situation, even for a simple money suit, lawyers have a habit of filing application under all the sections. Something is fundamentally wrong,” he said..“Quick justice at low cost should be the objective of judicial system,” the Judge underscored while acknowledging that legal services authorities were addressing the issue to some extent. .Quick justice at low cost should be the objective of judicial system.Justice S Abdul Nazeer.However, he identified a fundamental fallacy in the system, where writs under Article 227 of the Constitution were filed even in non-appealable cases.“Under article 227 you file appeal to High Courts. The High Courts inevitably consider those cases because according to Supreme Court theory Article 227 is basic structure of the constitution. Something is fundamentally wrong in our system,” he reiterated..In his speech, Justice Nazeer also said that litigation affects people's peace and eats into their time. “A home entangled in litigation will not have any peace," he opined.Therefore, educating litigants on where they stand is essential to eradicate “this cancerous disease”, he said.In this regard, he suggested that Members of Legislative Assemblies, intellectuals and law pundits should apply their minds and try to find a solution to this issue..“You (lawyers) also should take some proactive decisions. You must discuss among yourselves, you are all the representatives of people. You are all lawmakers of state and country. Let’s make a new beginning and try to solve the issues,” he added..Current Supreme Court Judge, Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka had also raised this issue last year while he was Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court. Speaking at an event earlier this month as well, Justice Oka had said that population explosion has led to docket explosion but it has also led to docket exclusion since legal representation has become a costly affair. .When asked on his concept of "access to justice" at an interview, Justice Oka expressed that after being a part of the Bench, he realised that the real issue before the judiciary was not the overflow of dockets or huge pendency of cases, but docket exclusion.Justice Oka had observed that even today, there are many who cannot afford to approach courts and are, therefore, forced to suffer injustice silently.