Pendency numbers lie; glaciers melt faster than we can dispose of cases: Justice Gautam Patel

The Bombay High Court's Justice Gautam Patel mused that society will have to define the role of a judge in terms of how much courts should interfere in executive action..The judge gave the presidential speech at the eleventh annual Daksh Constitution Day Lecture on the topic The Evolving Constitution: A view from the Bombay Boardroom.Justice Patel pondered on what society expected from judges in general. "What is it that judges should be doing in court? Should we just give a judgment and let you figure out what you want to do? Or should we issue directions and demand compliance, crossing lines, crossing boundaries, going over the other side? The society has to decide that for us," the judge said. .A day prior to Constitution Day, the judge remarked that the Constitution was a charter guiding society on how to live.He reasoned that owing to two-and-a-half centuries of gross exploitation by the British, the citizens wound up with a false sense of binary of capitalism versus socialism, which could never be answered properly."The only question that we need to ask ourselves is about efficiency. What is the most efficient and most economical way to do the most equity, the greatest good? The labels which you attach to this don’t matter. A principle of governance which says that 'we will take it away because you do not deserve this much' does not address justice," the judge said..He pointed out as an example that out of all the matters listed on his roster yesterday, 47% of the litigants were in court invoking their constitutional rights in the context of a commercial enterprise. The judge also briefly touched on certain issues pertaining to the judicial system and the changing role of the government. .Pendency of cases.The judge opined that the number of cases claimed to be pending was not an accurate figure."The minute a case of any description is filed, it is pending. But that case is not ready for disposal by the fastest of the fastest judge. Because the judicial process mandates that you have give a copy of this law suit to the other side and give them time to respond. Once opportunity has been given, then the case is pending. How is it pending till then? These numbers lie! Glaciers melt faster than we can dispose of cases," the judge emphasized.He added that the filed cases were required to be sorted, without which the problem would never be resolved..Privatisation of resources and government's role.The judge suggested that before privatisation, it was essential to know how much privatisation would be accepted by citizens as being constitutionally valid. He underscored that the government was going to have to define what was legitimate under the name of governance. "The government is now a market player, a jealous and envious market player, armed ferociously with powers that private or corporate players do not have. We are going to have to test how much corporate impulse from the government can be accepted as constitutionally valid. We are going to have to redefine the boundaries of what the government can legitimately do in the name of governance. This is a direct collision with the other port of privatisation, because the two do not go hand in hand," Justice Patel said. .Cases pertaining to environment and climate change.The High Court judge acknowledged that the environment and climate change was going to be a problem, and that it was going to be a "measuring problem". He explained that it was necessary to come up with a "scientifically acceptable manner" to decide which portion of land or resource was required to be protected."This is something which we have to start doing. Because it is not a contest between rupees on one side and what is nice to have on the other side. This is a false metric and an untenable position," the judge urged.