But with advocate Mahesh Thakar becoming the first practising lawyer from Vadodara to complete Ph D in Law -- something of a rarity in Gujarat, with only three Ph Ds in the legal stream so far -- a trend seems to been set.

While M S University awarded the doctorate on him recently, it took Thakar over seven years to complete his study titled `Delay in judicial proceedings and executions of degrees-a critical study of existing provisions of law with special reference to recovery suits by banks (financial institutions)' under the guidance of Prof J C Rathod.

During his study, Thakar interviewed people like former Supreme Court judge Justice D A Desai and former chief justice of Gujarat High Court justice B J Diwan, and sourced the information to the apex court, besides various courts. The information was hard to come, given the topic he chose.

More than 2.6 crore criminal cases, 1.7 crore civil cases and 60 lakh writ petitions pending in various high courts, is in itself a cause for injustice, the study states.

If undertrials languish in jails, others lose faith in the system, and gives rise to parallel, often unlawful, system of dispensation of justice. Ironically, Thakar says, the delay benefits only advocates. The conviction rate is only six per cent, and 60 per cent of total prisoners are undertrials, his study states.

Interestingly, the study points out, pendancy of court cases has always been a issue; discussed, inquired and forgotten. From 1926, when Rankin Committee was set up to the last Malinath Committee constituted in 1990, as many as 26 committee have inquired into various aspects of the phenomenon.

Thakar's study lists increase in legal remedies and legislations; general awareness, litigation explosion, additional litigations like election petitions, inadequate number of judges, falling judicial standards, concentration of work with only few members of the bar (In Vadodara, 90 per cent of the cases are handled by only 10 per cent of lawyers), lawyers' strikes, and litigation involving government and delay in serving summons as the most important reasons for the problem.

In spite of the relative success of Lok Adalats in Gujarat -- 1121 lok adalats have settled 1.95 lakh cases so far -- the problem still haunts the State. Even bank recovery tribunals, set up in Gujarat, in 1995 are saddled with cases involving a whopping amount of Rs 1167.96 crore.

In spite of all this, Thjakar states, the system has stood the test of time, and there is no alternative to it. Instead of the present adversary system -- in which one party to the litigation has to be necessarily wrong -- the study favours a system based on conciliation and settlement.Less than one per cent amount in the general budget is devoted to legal system, the study observes advocating the need to increase it. Introduction of Uniform Civil Code, the need to update corporate and economic laws, introduction of circuit benches of high courts are among the suggestions the study has made.