A VIEW ON ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN INDIA

C. YOGAMURUGAN

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A VIEW ON ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN INDIA

AUTHORED BY - C. YOGAMURUGAN^{^[1]}

ABSTRACT:

Access to justice relates to the ease of entry to a legal institution as also to the nature of the de jure fact that carries its promise. Judiciary is an important arm of the state, the Indian Constitution rested its confidence in it to watch over and assist the population in their realisation of the constitutional dictums. The aim of the research is to ascertain the difference between the level of access to justice between the Judicial mechanisms and State Adjudicatory mechanisms and thereby, ascertain the satisfaction of the people on receiving access and remedy from the available mechanisms. The major objective of this study is to determine the accessibility levels of Justice in India. Convenient sampling method is used to collect the samples. The sample size of the research is 200. Independent variables are gender, age, education qualification and occupation. The dependent variables are “Justice Accessibility in India” and “State has provided effective adjudicatory mechanisms.” The statistical tools used in this study are graphical analysis, t-test and pictorial representation. The Study has empirically ascertained through graphical analysis that the accessibility has seen a declining curvature of access to justice since the Golden Period of Indian Judiciary(1950 to 1970) and that the State has been supplementing the failure of the Judiciary to fill the lack of the accessibility to justice. The research therefore concludes through the findings of the empirical study that the accessibility to Justice through Judicial mechanisms is largely compromised in the Country, whereas the State Adjudicatory mechanisms have developed to have become the alternative access to Justice for the people of India.

KEYWORDS:

Justice, Access, State, Adjudication, and Remedy

INTRODUCTION:

Judiciary as an important arm of State, the Indian constitution rested its confidence in it to watch over and assist the populace in their realisation of the constitutional dictums of Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and to guide and caution the Legislature and Executive for any excess through Arts 32, 226, 141 and 142. Delay in dispensation of justice system not only paralyses but denies the parties to exercise their rights freely. The protracted justice system has a definite impact on the growth and development of the economy, as the investors of foreign nations are averse to come to India, with the fear that whenever they get entangled in a dispute, there is no time bound settlement of their legal grievances. Access to Justice as a natural right in its evolutionary stages did not require the affirmative action of the state to seek justice from the courts at ease. But the transformation of state from ‘authoritarian’ to ‘welfarist’ in modern periods, access to justice too transformed itself into a right to effective justice and became a human right and guarantees all the legal rights. The changing perception and discharge of duties of state in modern times, state itself became a party to deny, take away or subvert the rights of its citizenry knowingly or unknowingly through knitted intricacies of legislative or administrative acts on the name of welfarism of a section of people or up-liftment of the in-equals or underprivileged. The Supreme Court of India is facing a number of issues including the volume of pendency of cases. Further, on one or other pretext at regular intervals often called to address some urgent matters, which may have political or national interests, which also disrupt its functioning including clearing of backlog. India being a cooperative federation, and the Supreme Court has a number of jurisdictions to address a wide variety of disputes, it is becoming difficult to render justice to parties at the earliest. The country needs to establish at least two divisions of the Supreme Court amending the constitution. One branch be left to deal with Civil Cases and one be made in charge of exclusively criminal cases and may be named as Supreme Court of Civil Judicature and Supreme Court of Criminal Judicature. By dividing the Supreme Court like this, the Indian Supreme Court certainly could guide the country through a number of ways and means and can be equivalent to that of the Supreme Court of USA in evolving furthermore quality judgments to help the legal system with much more dynamism to nurture the principles of Social Justice. The aim of the research is to ascertain the difference between the level of access to justice between the Judicial mechanisms and State Adjudicatory mechanisms and thereby, ascertain the satisfaction of the people on receiving access and remedy from the available mechanisms.

OBJECTIVES:

? To determine the accessibility levels of Justice in India.

? To ascertain the reasons for lack of access to Justice in India.

? To determine the ways to improve access to Justice in India.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

(Badami and Chandu) have reviewed that access to justice as a human right is broad in its perspective and looks beyond the general perception of easy access to judicial institutions and quick dispense of justice to the problems of the aggrieved parties. (Bajpai) has studied that in order to protect the concept of rule of law and legal access to justice at ease, both at the international and national frontiers, the nation-states, giving a flip to natural rights laid the foundations for the development of human rights, through the Charter of the UN. On this edifice, while expanding the canon of human rights, access to justice became a cornerstone of a number of international and regional documents starting from the UDHR. (Peysner) has concluded in his study that by dividing the Supreme Court like this, the Indian Supreme Court certainly could guide the country through number of ways and means and can be equivalent to that of the Supreme Court of USA in evolving furthermore quality judgments to help the legal system with much more dynamism to nurture the principles of Social Justice. (Maranlou) has concluded in his research paper that relevancy is more important than yester years, in spite of wide ranging debates, discussions and suggestions rendered by every possible quarter by native and foreign scholars, researchers, institutional studies with roll-costar remedial mechanism for reforms to empower judiciary to weed out its weakest arm of judicial pendency in dispensing justice at ease, and, to bail out millions of our brotherhood who are languishing in the corridors of judicial tangles for justice to enjoy their basic rights. (Konoorayar) has revealed from his study that in spite of the innumerable problems surrounding it, people still have faith in judiciary hence knock its doors with a hope to get justice in spite of paucity of funds, judges, courts. These issues not only delay in justice administration but also diminish the chance of Access to justice, which is crucial for the enjoyment of human and fundamental rights of citizenry of a polity. (Guruswamy and Aspatwar) have studied in their study that in stark contrast to theoretical perceptions of law and justice, delay in rendering justice constitutes as a primary percept of access to justice and enjoyment of rights freely that are accorded both by international instruments and the constitution of India. (Jain) states that, Access to justice, if regarded as an instrument to good governance, has a number of parameters to look beyond, especially in augmenting the rights of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups including the poor. (Samaddar) studied the basic concept of access to justice and enjoyment of rights freely or accorded by both international instruments or laws and the Indian constitution. (Skinner) found that nyaya panchayats had faced severe problems of establishing their independent personalities with the parties approaching them. (Muralidhar) stated that in the early 1980s, judges, lawyers and the Constitution promised Justice and Public interest litigation and sought to use judicial power to protect the powerless. (Sanderfur) found that the quota policy gives special treatment to disadvantaged classes to help equalise their power and status. (Kapilashrami) identifies that social justice in India is highly influenced by gender inequality. Not only is the delay in justice a major issue but inequality itself is a major issue that does not provide speedy trial and the access to justice at this point would be questionable. (de Souza and Spohr) state that lack of knowledge leads to misuse of access to justice, therefore legal education must place high priority on public service. The basic knowledge of an individual‘s fundamental rights must be enlightened to them in order to ensure that it is claimed in the future. (Trindade) stated that rule of law is useless, unless there is access to justice for the common people as it is their fundamental right. (“Procedures and Access to Justice in Damages Claims for Public Procurement Breaches”) states that access to justice is often used as a term for access to the formal institution of the legal system by those in search of a remedy. (Kannabiran) found that in the case of Anita Kushwaha v. Pushap Sudan it was clearly stated that access to justice is a facet of right guaranteed under Article 14 and Article 21. (Ostfeld) found that there are many cases pending before the Indian courts and there is no speedy trial; they quote the saying “ justice delayed is justice denied”. and conclude that the judiciary fails to fill the lack of access to justice. (Harris) defines the preamble and states that the term social, economical and political means to provide justice in various manners. (Nur Mohammad Abdullah and Rashid) found that the state has established NALSA, State legal service authority, District legal service authority, supreme Court legal service committee and High Court legal service committee and concludes that the state judicial mechanism is much more approachable. (Chattaraj) concludes that access to justice is very important in order to provide speedy trials, awareness among the citizens etc.

METHODOLOGY:

The current study is based on empirical research. It is consisting of the scientific frame of research. It began with the finding of research problems based on the review of literature. The major contribution of the study is to collect the legal facts of a particular area and to test the hypothesis of a cause and effect relationship between variables. The research design is exploratory and experimental. It explored the problem tested with hypotheses and provided the solution from the analysis. Convenience sampling method is used (Non probability sampling). The sample size is 200. The data is refrained finally as Data is collected through the primary and secondary sources. Questionnaire is used as the primary data collection and the articles, journals, reports, newsletters are considered as the secondary sources. The analysis is carried out for demographic statistics (Gender and age) and is utilised. The dependent variables are “At what level is Justice Accessible in India?” - accessibility level of public and “At what level do you agree that the State has provided effective adjudicatory mechanisms” - agreeability level of public. The statistical tool used in this study graphical analysis and pictorial representation.

ANALYSIS:

VARIABLES:

Age:

FIG. 1

LEGEND: From fig. 1 it’s observed that, majority of the respondents are from the age group 31-40 with 36.5%, 11.5% of above 50, 31.5% of the age group 18-30 and 20.5% of the age group 41-50.

Gender:

FIG. 2

LEGEND: From fig. 2 it’s observed that 50% of the respondents are men and 50% are women.

Education:

FIG. 3

LEGEND: From fig. 3 it’s observed that, majority of the respondents have completed their UG or persuading their UG with 67%. 28.5% respondents have completed their PG, 5% completed HSC and 3% have completed SSLC.

Occupation:

FIG.4

LEGEND: From fig. 4 it’s observed that 66.5% (majority of the respondents) are private employees, 23.5% are self employed, 9% are unemployed and a mere 1% of the respondent is a government employee.

QUESTIONS:

FIG.5

LEGEND OF FIG.5: Fig. 5 shows the gender distribution of different age groups and their knowledge on accessibility of justice in India.

RESULT OF FIG.5: The results of Fig.5 shows that the female respondents of the age group of the 18-30 believe that the availability of access to justice is at the very least. On the other hand it can be observed from the respondents of the age group of 41-50 believe that the accessibility to justice is very high. It is further notable that the male female respondents between the age group of 30-40 believe that the access to justice is fairly high in the country. Lastly the group of male respondents from the age group of 18-30 have neutrality in stationing their opinion on the accessibility of Justice in India.

DISCUSSION OF FIG.5: The results of Fig.5 shows leads this study to the discussion regarding the period known as the golden period of the Indian Judiciary. The years between 1950 and 1975 is known to be the golden period. The opinion of those of the age group of 41-50 shows that those who existed during the golden period of the Indian judiciary still believe that the accessibility to justice is extremely high. But on the other hand the generation that buds as seen front the opinion of the respondents from the age group of 18-30, shows that the accessibility of justice to people is not up to the mark and is largely compromised.

FIG. 6

LEGEND OF FIG.6: Fig 6. shows the gender distribution of different age groups and their satisfaction level towards adjudicatory mechanisms provided by State.

RESULT OF FIG.6: The results of Fig.6 show that the male respondents between the age group of the 41-50 show that their opinion towards the satisfaction level of the State Adjudicatory mechanisms are high. On the other hand the male respondents of the age group of 31-40 are in favour of the opinion that the State has not provided satisfactory adjudicatory mechanisms for the access of the people. Lastly it cannot be disregarded that the female respondents within the age group of 41-50 have neutrality in their opinion and show inclination towards a fairly satisfactory stand in regard to the effectiveness of the State adjudicatory mechanisms.

DISCUSSION OF FIG.6: The discussion of this study is influenced by the results of the research problem in regard to the difference between the Indian Judiciary measures and the State Adjudicatory measures towards providing the effective access and remedy to the legally injured. The term ‘State’ under Article 12 cannot be interpreted in this regard to include the Judiciary under the term ‘other authorities’. Therefore the Judicial measures as seen in Fig.6 were shown to provide poor accessibility of justice in regard to the findings of this study. Now that the State Adjudicatory mechanisms such the tribunal like the NCLT and DRT which arise as a quasi-judicial body under the grant of a Statute are found to be more accessible to Justice according to the findings of Fig.6. The State Adjudicatory mechanisms being far more accessible to justice than the Judicial mechanisms available within the Country, the opinion of the people on their level of satisfaction and the level of effectiveness is far more inclined towards the State than the Judiciary.

TABLES:

1. At what level justice is accessible in India?

H0: There is no significant association between age and accessibility of justice in India.

Ha: There is a significant association between age and accessibility of justice in India.

Crosstab
Count
		1. At what level justice is accessible in India?					Total
		1.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	5.0	Total
Age	18-30	3	24	11	11	14	63
	31-40	0	1	23	17	32	73
	41-50	0	0	11	0	30	41
	50 above	1	0	1	21	0	23
Total		4	25	46	49	76	200

Chi-Square Tests
	Value	df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square	140.574^a	12	.000
Likelihood Ratio	143.804	12	.000
Linear-by-Linear Association	19.310	1	.000
N of Valid Cases	200
a. 5 cells (25.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .46.

Symmetric Measures
		Value	Asymptotic Standardized Error^a	Approximate T^b	Approximate Significance
Interval by Interval	Pearson's R	.312	.062	4.613	.000^c
Ordinal by Ordinal	Spearman Correlation	.321	.066	4.772	.000^c
N of Valid Cases		200
a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.
b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.
c. Based on normal approximation.

DISCUSSION:

The value of the test statistic is 140.574. Because the test statistic is based on a 5x4 cross tabulation table, the degrees of freedom (df) for the test statistic is df=(R?1) ?(C?1) = (5?1) ? (4?1) =4?3=12. The corresponding p-value of the test statistic is p <0.05. Since the p-value is smaller than our chosen significance level (? < 0.05), the null hypothesis is rejected. Rather, we conclude that there is enough evidence to suggest an association between age and the accessibility of justice in India. It can be inferred from the results that there is an association between age and how it influences the awareness level (?2 (8)> = 140.574, p < 0.05). Amongst the different age groups, those who are 18-30, agree more with the statement that there is lack of accessibility of justice.

2. At what level do you agree that the state has provided effective adjudicatory mechanisms?

H0: There is no significant association between age and effective adjudicatory mechanisms.

Ha: There is a significant association between age and effective adjudicatory mechanisms.

Crosstab
Count
		2. At what level do you agree that the state has provided effective adjudicatory mechanisms?					Total
		1.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	5.0	Total
Age	18-30	0	17	19	25	2	63
	31-40	0	2	23	29	19	73
	41-50	0	9	14	3	15	41
	50 above	2	0	9	12	0	23
Total		2	28	65	69	36	200

Chi-Square Tests
	Value	df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square	69.380^a	12	.000
Likelihood Ratio	77.141	12	.000
Linear-by-Linear Association	1.210	1	.271
N of Valid Cases	200
a. 6 cells (30.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .23.

Symmetric Measures
		Value	Asymptotic Standardized Error^a	Approximate T^b	Approximate Significance
Interval by Interval	Pearson's R	.078	.070	1.101	.272^c
Ordinal by Ordinal	Spearman Correlation	.115	.070	1.635	.104^c
N of Valid Cases		200
a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.
b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.
c. Based on normal approximation.

DISCUSSION:

The value of the test statistic is 69.380. Because the test statistic is based on a 5x4 cross tabulation table, the degrees of freedom (df) for the test statistic is df=(R?1) ?(C?1) = (5?1) ? (4?1) =4?3=12. The corresponding p-value of the test statistic is p <0.05. Since the p-value is smaller than our chosen significance level (? < 0.05), the null hypothesis is rejected. Rather, we conclude that there is enough evidence to suggest an association between age and lack of effective mechanism. It can be inferred from the results that there is an association between age and how it influences the awareness level (?2 (8)> = 69.380, p < 0.05). Amongst the different age groups, those who are 31-40, agree more with the statement that there is a lack of effective mechanism.

SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION:

Access to justice is available and guaranteed in the Indian Constitution. The major objective of this paper is to ascertain the reasons for lack of access to justice in India. The study from its findings is provoked to suggest the increase in the creation of Statutory bodies for the effective adjudication of the disputes as it has previously done by the creation of the NCLT and the DRT. Also the study suggests that the Judiciary shall implement a two fold structure like the Judicial System of the United States of America, where there exists a Supreme Judicature of Criminal Cases and a Supreme Judicature of Civil Cases. Since the State Adjudicatory mechanisms are far more accessible to Justice than the Judicial Mechanisms prevalent in the Country, the Study also believes that if the Judiciary were to introduce a Supreme Court of Arbitration like the International Court of Justice, the accessibility to Justice may drastically rise. The Study has empirically ascertained that the accessibility has seen a declining curvature of access to justice since the Golden Period of Indian Judiciary(1950 to 1970) and that the State has been supplementing the failure of the Judiciary to fill the lack of the accessibility to justice. The research therefore concludes through the findings of the empirical study that the accessibility to Justice through Judicial mechanisms is largely compromised in the Country, whereas the State Adjudicatory mechanisms have developed to have become the alternative access to Justice for the people of India.

REFERENCES:

^{^[1]}BA.LLB.,Saveetha School of Law, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences(SIMATS), Chennai-77, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: cyogamurugan@gmail.com

Article Information

A VIEW ON ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN INDIA

Authors: C. YOGAMURUGAN

Journal IJLRA
ISSN 2582-6433
Published 2023/06/05
Volume 2
Issue 7

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International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis

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A VIEW ON ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN INDIA

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A VIEW ON ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN INDIA

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