JUDICIAL PROCESS: JUDICIAL PROCESS: Managing Quality and Managing - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

JUDICIAL PROCESS: JUDICIAL PROCESS: Managing Quality and Managing Quality and Improvements Improvements Improvements Improvements

Nature of Judicial Process Nature of Judicial Process

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Direction of Judicial Reforms

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The Way Forward

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Process and prevalent issues Process and prevalent issues

Filing a Plaint Standard filing format prescribed by the CPC – not widely known Primary Courts lack requisite level of computerization Primary Courts lack requisite level of computerization Admissions Not too many rejections in Primary Courts – procedural formality Post Interlocutory Orders, plaintiff’s lawyers known to cause deliberate delays Call for records by the High Court in appeals may take as much as 6 months, cases come up on scheduled dates despite no records Summons Separate department for Process Serving – communication gaps within the Courts Low on transparency and great scope for corruption Many intermediate steps between the Court and the process serving department No part of it is either automated or Computerized Involvement of Judge for 2nd and 3rd instances of summons could be avoided Acknowledgement of summons not sent to plaintiff Systemic Issues Non Value Added Court Time – Judges involved in a lot of routine and administrative work Data Capturing – Computerization but no data management and monitoring Accountability Issues – No performance measures, employees not held accountable for delays in the processes Incentive alignment – Goals of stakeholders, no incentives system for checks and balances

Process improvements Process improvements – – Summons Summons

Computerization of Summons Generation

• 1. Current process involves multiple steps with delays
• 2. Computerization allowing availability of all details to court clerk
• 3. Printing automated and complete within few minutes of hearing

Benefits

• 1. Process simplification
• 2. Elimination of time delays

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Data Base management systems
• 2. IT infrastructure for lower courts
• 3. Minimal resources to dispatch of summons

Order by Judge for Summons Issue Record of

• rder in

register Transfer to Process Serving Mechanism Writing of Summons Despatch of Summons Order by Judge for Summons Issue Automatic printout of Summons Despatch of Summons

Process improvements … Process improvements …

Improved document transfer system

• 1. Current time for transfer on appeal – as long as 6 months
• 2. Request of documents to be served via email
• 3. Scanned copies to be sent upon request
• 4. All evidence documents need to be scanned and stored eventually

Benefits

• 1. Reduction in delay for higher courts
• 2. Easy availability in electronic format

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Computer and network connectivity
• 2. Central repository of scanned documents
• 3. Dedicated IT personnel
• 3. Dedicated IT personnel

Time-band concept for Lawyers

• 1. Delaying tactics practiced by lawyers currently
• 2. Allocation of fixed time limits (in terms of court hours/ duration of cases)
• 3. Time limits based on category of case (Track 1 - 4)
• 4. Exceptions to be permitted by judge

Benefits

• 1. Speedy delivery of justice
• 2. Better quality of judges’ time utilization

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Objective classification of cases
• 2. Amendment of CPC

Process improvements Process improvements – – Performance measures Performance measures

Potential performance measures

• S. No.

Stage Potential Performance Measures 1. Filing of Plaints

• Rate of completion of process per day
• Number of exceptions to FIFO Rule excluding rejections
• Mean time spent per file in department

2. Scrutiny 3. Registration 4. Admissions

• Call for Records
• Interlocutory Appeals
• Mean time spent on admissions per file
• Rate of completion of admissions per day
• Mean time for call for record

5. Summons

• Mean summons delivery time
• Rate of completion of process per day
• Mean delivery failures

6. Written Statements

• Rate of completion of process per month

Benefits

• 1. Objectivity in measuring performance of

processes and improvements

• 2. Improved consistency and process control

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Monthly/ Annual target setting
• 2. Maintenance of comprehensive data base
• 3. Institution of periodic review system

6. Written Statements

• Rate of completion of process per month
• Mean time spent by case in each stage
• Mean adjournments per case

7. Determination of Issues 8. Examination of witnesses 9. Arguments 10. Issue of final decree Value Addition by Judges

• Judge Value Added Time = Total time spent by judge hearing cases / Total

Time spent by judge in court

• Value Added by Judge per case = Total time spent by judge hearing case /

Total duration of case

Importance of Court Managers & DBMS Importance of Court Managers & DBMS

Supervisory role of Court Manager

• 1. Segregate functions of Court Registrar based on requirement of judicial expertise
• 2. Court manager assigned to deal with non-judicial functions
• 3. Single Registrar in higher courts to handle judicial functions; part-time registrar in lower courts

Benefits

• 1. Better utilization of Registrar’s time and

expertise

• 2. Professionally managed courts

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Involve current Registrars in process change
• 2. Recruit and train Management/Law graduates

to perform required duties

Data Management System

1. Installation of basic Database Management System to collate data for each case 2. All departments in each Court to be networked to enable instantaneous updates of case details 3. Eventually, all courts can be networked to monitor the entire process 4. Data to be collected should include: Case number, sitting judge, number of adjournments, current status, next hearing date, nature of hearing, details of each hearing, etc.

Benefits

• 1. Improvement in quality of process
• 2. Enable court-level tracking of process flow
• 3. Serve public better by making access public

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Design and improvement of DBMS
• 2. Time to train senior court staff for data entry

and retrieval

Process improvements Process improvements – – Support staff Support staff

Dedicated law clerks for judges

• 1. Current Scenario - Judges allowed to pick from a pool of available clerks
• 2. Assigning clerks to judges to increase reliance of judges on clerks

Benefits

• 1. Better utilization of judges’ time
• 2. Direct impact on process efficiency

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Selection panel comprising judges
• 2. Budgetary allocation to cover recruitment

expenses

Reduction in administrative duties of judges

1. Duties to be delegated include (judges given authority to make exceptions) Preliminary check of litigants’ availability & preparedness for cases to be heard later in the day Re-serving of summons that could not be served on defendants at the first attempt Rescheduling of cases due to non-availability of records from the lower court

Benefits

• 1. Judges time used in higher value-add

activities requiring judicial discretion

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Time to train senior court staff
• 2. Mechanism to handle exceptions
• 3. Marginal budget increase for additional

staffing

Standardization and automation Standardization and automation

Standardize Filing Stage

• 1. Mandate use of standard plaint/appeal format provided in the CPC
• 2. Make information available to lawyers and laypersons

Benefits

• 1. Minimizing corruption at initial stages
• 2. Demystifying legal processes for laypersons

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Brief retraining of filing section staff
• 2. Budget allocation for publicizing format

Computerization of Filing, Scrutiny and Registration

• 1. Implement in lower courts - filing of various details of each case within each stage of processing

Benefits

• 1. Speed up of process before Admission stage
• 2. Improved process control and tracking
• 3. Enable employee performance evaluation

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Computerization and training of staff (lower

courts)

• 2. Enhancement of existing system (High Courts)

Intra-day Case Hearing Schedule

1. Schedule cases in court in slots – Orders, Interlocutory appeals, Arguments and Final Hearings 2. Allocation of slots to each type of hearing upon judge’s discretion and personal choice

Benefits

• 1. Improved efficiency of judge
• 2. Uniformity of pendency across categories
• 3. Less waiting time for both parties

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Customization of DBMS to track type of

hearing

• 2. Scheduling of cases to optimize pendency

Process improvements … Process improvements …

Overall Incentive System

• 1. Introduce performance measures and incentivize/dis-incentivize stakeholders

Collect deposit from lawyer when case is admitted, to be retrieved once the hearing begins

• Dis-incentivises lawyers from delaying the cases in the earlier stages
• Reduces waiting between sending of summons, as process fee would already be

furnished Introduce variable pay for court administrative staff

• Performance measurement would form an integral part of the variable pay calculations.

Include disposal rate of cases in performance review of judges being promoted

• This would also incentivise the judges to speed up processes.
• This would also incentivise the judges to speed up processes.

Benefits

• 1. Improvement in performance due to

incentives

• 2. Reduced time spent by cases in court

Implementation Requirements

• 1. Revamping of salary structure of staff
• 2. Designing DBMS to measure performance

metrics

Evaluation of Recommendations Evaluation of Recommendations

Evaluation of Recommendations Evaluation of Recommendations

High IMPACT

8 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 10 11 12

Prioritization of Recommendations Prioritization of Recommendations

Low High Low

1 – Summons via courier / private agent 2 – Computerization of summons 3 – Mediation 4 – Improved Document Trans. Systems 5 – Time Band for Lawyers 6 – Improve accountability 7 – Dedicated law clerks 8 – Reduce admin duties 9 – Standardize filing 10 – Computerization of Filing, Scrutiny & Registration 11 – Data Mgmt. System 12 – Court Manager 13 – Intra day scheduling

COST OF IMPLEMENTATION

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Thank you!

absuraj@iimb.ernet.in