The Department of Justice, part of the Ministry of Law and Justice, oversees the routine functions of India’s upper judiciary: the Supreme Court and the High Courts. Its budget has been increased in recent years to fund court buildings and other infrastructure in the lower judiciary. The department is also tasked with promoting judicial reform through reducing India’s enormous court backlog and increasing outreach to the poor and other marginalized populations.

Like many Indian ministries, the Department of Justice received its marching orders from the Allocation of Business Rules, 1971. At the time of its creation, the department was tasked with overseeing the constitution and organization of it, the Supreme Court and the fees associated with it and the courts in Union Territories and their fees and stamp duties.

The Department of Justice was housed in the Ministry of Home Affairs until 1971, when it was transferred to the Ministry of Law and Justice.  For approximately two decades after its creation, the department’s funding was mainly for salaries. In 1993-1994, it was given responsibility for administering centrally supported schemes to improve judicial infrastructure and to set up the National Judicial Academy. It has subsequently been entrusted with other specific initiatives.

As with other Indian government bodies, the Department of Justice’s independence was questioned during The Emergency, which ran from June 26, 1975 to March 21, 1977. During this time, the department did little to stop detentions without trial or charge and a rewrite of the constitution that allowed Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to essentially rule by decree.  

Through its powers to affect the transfers, appointments, and confirmations of judges, the department was a party in the war between Congress and the judiciary.  With the exception of a brief post-Emergency period from 1977 to 1979, the Congress Party ruled India in the 1970s and early 1980s.  Seeking greater power, Congress led assaults on judicial independence.  For example, in 1973, a Chief Justice of the Indian Supreme Court was appointed over three more senior colleagues. His appointment came because he allegedly agreed that the government should have unchecked power to change any aspect of the Constitution.  The Supreme Court wasn’t the only court affected; it has been suggested that, in this period, the government sought to place party loyalists in the high courts, to appoint “additional” judges with less job security in posts, and to hold the threat of a transfer to a different court over the head of judges who disagreed with them.

The Department of Justice oversees India’s upper judiciary. Since 1993-94, the department has also implemented a Centrally Supported Scheme to fund the construction of lower level court buildings, housing for court officials, and other forms of physical infrastructure. Funding for this scheme has increased in recent years.  

Another key department initiative is the reduction of India’s enormous judicial backlog.  The Department’s National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms, set up in 2011, attempts to reduce delays in the judicial system. The department collects and disseminates data on the speed of the courts as a means to monitor and combat judicial delays.  

The department also works to increase the legal system’s reach.  For example, it participates in the United Nations Development Program project, Access 2 Justice, to provide a way into India’s courts for the poor and other marginalized groups. Additionally, states are funded through the department to create operate village courts, known as Gram Nyayalayas, and Family Courts.  

The Department of Justice also handles routine functions related to the judiciary. This involves administrative work for the Supreme Court and High Courts, including the appointment and removal of justices. The department has also been tasked with creating the All India Judicial Service, modeled after India’s civil service program, the Indian Administrative Service.

Attached Bodies or Autonomous Bodies

National Judicial Academy

The National Judicial Academy was established in 1993 as an independent organization. It is funded by the department to provide judicial education. India’s Chief Justice of India chairs the NDA.

A Centrally Supported Scheme has operated since 1993-94 to build court buildings and housing for court officials in the name of improving judicial infrastructure. With funding for 2013-14 at Rs 756 crore ($139.1 million USD), this central government program eats up 65% of the Department of Justice’s budget.  

Additional sums are allocated to computerize lower level courts, to fund the National Mission for Justice Delivery, and to pay for judicial infrastructure improvements in some Union Territories. Collectively, these programs comprise about 15% of the Department of Justice’s budget.

In addition to this work, the department has set aside a relatively small amount to increase access to the courts for disempowered groups. This includes Rs 20 crore ($3.68 million USD) to pay for village-level Gram Nayayalaya courts and additional small sums for Access to Justice, a UNDP project focused on increasing marginalized Indians’ ability to use the justice system. The department also pays for the operations of Family Courts in the states.

The Nirmal Yadav Affair

Several judges have been accused of corruption in recent years. But few can match the made-for-TV narrative of Nirmal Yadav’s case: she was caught when a bag of money intended for her was sent to the wrong judge’s home. Yadav faced charges of “corruption, conspiracy, destroying evidence and creation of false evidence.” Yadav was not alone; in 2002, India’s chief justice said that 20% of the upper judiciary might be corrupt.
Eight Former Chief Justices Corrupt, Says Ex-Law Minister (by Rakesh Bhatnagar, Daily News And Analysis)

Cash-In-Bag Scam: Nirmal Yadav Seeks Record of Ministry of Law and Justice (TNN, Times Of India)

India: Legal System In The Dock (by Praful Bidwai, Inter Press Service)
 

Release Undertrials

Machang Lalung’s case best represent the plight of India’s undertrials. Arrested for assault at 23, Lalung spent 54 years in jail and never faced trial. Released in 2005, he died two years later. Lalung is emblematic of the millions of undertrials languishing in India’s jails on mostly petty charges. These prisoners, who’ve yet to have their day in court, often come from families too poor to afford bail. In February 2013, IANS reported that undertrials represent a whopping 66.4% of India’s prisoners. In Tihar Jail Delhi, perhaps the country’s most famous jail, they comprise 73.5% of the prison population. In February 2013, the central government issued a directive to states to examine the cases of all undertrials. The proposal, however, stopped short of the radical rethinking needed to correct this long-running problem.

70 Percent Tihar Inmates Are Undertrials (Indo-Asian News Service)

Undertrials in Jail for Long May be Freed (by Deeptiman Tiwary, Times of India)

What is Causing India’s Judicial Backlog?

India’s courts have onerous delays and an extensive backlog.  In 2011, an Indian high court justice suggested that the Indian judiciary would need 320 years to clear its current caseload. According to the judge, there are a stunning 31.28 million cases pending, a sum that means an average of 2,147 cases per Indian judge. The Supreme Court, the Law Commission, and the Central Government have all agreed that something needs to be done about India’s long-standing backlog.  

India’s Judicial Backlog is a Result of Courtroom Culture

In 2009, the 18th Law Commission recommended a number of changes to address delays in Indian courts. Many recommended changes in the behavior of judges and lawyers to make to encourage speedier processing and have less litigation. Other suggestions included forcing judges to come on to court on time, lumping together similar cases and barring lawyers from making a “prolix of repetitive arguments,” the Indian legal equivalent of the filibuster. They also recommended lawyers should stop going on strike.  

Courts Will Take 320 Years To Clear Backlog Cases: Justice Rao (Times of India)

Backlog of Cases in Indian Courts- The Way Out (by Harpreet Oberoi, National Bar Association of India)

Centre Wakes Up To Judicial Backlog, Seeks Law Commission Help (by Dhananjay Mahapatra, Times of India)

India’s Judicial Backlog is a Result of Not Having Enough Judges

In contrast, the Supreme Court of India argues that the backlog results from a lack of judges. The SC sees filling vacant judicial posts as crucial to speed up the processing of cases. It has identified a number of factors behind the vacancies, including the unwillingness of lawyers to become judges and delays by the Supreme Court and the government in filling positions. The SC also blames the government for failing to actualize a 2009 plan for appointing 5,000 ad hoc judges; it argued that such a scheme is impracticable because lawyers would not be interested in taking the positions.

One Hundred Twentieth Report on Manpower Planning in Judiciary: A Blueprint (Law Commission of India) (pdf)

Supreme Court Chides Itself, Govt for Judicial Backlog (by Dhananjay Mahapatra, Times of India)

Reforms in the Judiciary – Some Suggestions: Report No. 230 (Law Commission of India) (pdf)