tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15602189.post4161963335871897632..comments2023-09-21T16:17:51.838+05:30Comments on Law and Other Things: Supreme Court Access and BacklogAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09348738084817273397noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15602189.post-50312622872381186572010-01-30T23:06:11.365+05:302010-01-30T23:06:11.365+05:30Thanks Nick for your excellent article and your co...Thanks Nick for your excellent article and your comment. I have got your piece uploaded on judicialreforms.org (hope you don't mind that)Pranav Sachdevahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03039589469816306633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15602189.post-73934281052531705462010-01-30T22:51:32.935+05:302010-01-30T22:51:32.935+05:30Thanks Alok and Pranav for your encouragement and ...Thanks Alok and Pranav for your encouragement and comments. Alok, I think you're right that service matters often involve middle class or lower middle class government employees. One thing I couldn't get from the Court, and I don't think they keep track of, is in how many cases in each category it is the government that is appealing. In other words, is the problem with service matters that the government appeals everything (and most employees don't) and the Court takes too many of these cases or just that everyone appeals whenever they can (government and employees)? <br /><br />I believe the Law Minister has said they will come up with a new set of guidelines by which the government will appeal cases. However, I've never seen any statistics about how many cases the government appeals and in what categories. If we don't have those numbers it's going to be very difficult to monitor to see if the government is changing its behaviour, and doing so in a sensible way.Nick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07188754890135788657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15602189.post-77426929731603142422010-01-28T21:55:57.626+05:302010-01-28T21:55:57.626+05:30recently 2 SC judges have observed that globalisat...recently 2 SC judges have observed that globalisation is making SC blind to the plight of the common man and woman.<br />http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/572348/<br /><br /> thank God some introspection is happening. there are some good judges in SC, though in a minority.Pranav Sachdevahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03039589469816306633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15602189.post-51427263625078644122010-01-28T14:25:24.384+05:302010-01-28T14:25:24.384+05:30the assessment of Nick is absolutely spot on. As a...the assessment of Nick is absolutely spot on. As a person who regularly practice in Supreme Court, i can certify that each of the concerns are valid.<br /><br />for eg. there is a sea of difference the way CJI handles PILs and the way CJ of Delhi HC A P Shah handles them. The latter is far more sensitive to the needs of the poor and is committed to his duty to make government accountable. Chief Justice's court in DHC is the perfect example of what constitutional courts should be like. SC should learn from it.<br /><br />Also, senior SC judges who comprise the collegium didn't elevate Shah to SC is because they know Shah is not in their league. He is simply better.Pranav Sachdevahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03039589469816306633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15602189.post-24196689729732930962010-01-28T12:07:38.894+05:302010-01-28T12:07:38.894+05:30Very interesting and insightful article Nick. A co...Very interesting and insightful article Nick. A couple of observations though:<br /><br />1. You mentioned tax and service matters. I think the problem there is not only the Court, but also the Government (Central and States). A stricter set of guidelines governing filing of SLPs in such matters by the Government must be adopted to reduce cases being filed in the SC. Currently the system followed is that law officers must certify that appeals can be filed, but a majority of law officers (with a few exceptions) barely consider the likelihood of success in ascertaining the success of the appeals before recommending SLPs. Even in appeals filed, lot of tax matters dealing with the same question of law can be disposed off together quickly without a separate hearing in each case but this requires a lot of coordination between the SC and the Government which currently seems to be lacking. <br /><br />2. Whereas tax matters more often than not involve corporations and the wealthy, service matters by and large concern middle class government employees. The latter, as your statistics also hint at, are mostly from States close to the Delhi. In such cases, the Supreme Court and the Government must seriously consider shutting off appeals from CAT to the SC while keeping open strict review jurisdiction of the HC and SC. That said, the desperation with which I have seen some of these cases fought does not make me too hopeful on the success of such measures.Alokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15800594082704080717noreply@blogger.com