‘Judges undertrained to handle their responsibilities’

BHAVNA VIJ

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 17: I head 10,000 prisoners airing their grievances at a ‘maha-panchayat’ and not even a single inmate had any complaint against the prison. But, shockingly, most of them had serious complaints against the judiciary and how slow the entire process was. I hung my head in shame.’’

This is what senior Supreme Court judge Justice K.T. Thomas said that about his visit to high security Tihar jail some years ago. And that set him thinking about the two most crucial institutions in the country — judiciary and prisons — and both in urgent need of reforms.

According to Justice Thomas, who retired on January 30, the screams of the common man were unable to penetrate the high walls of judiciary. Judges in the country, he felt, were woefully under-trained to handle the responsibility their work demanded. ‘‘High Court judges must volunteer to undergo training, at least in the initial stages, so that they learn basics like pronouncing judgements without delay,’’ he said.

A day before leaving for his home town in Kerala, the man who delivered many a landmark judgements, said that to bring about any kind of judicial reforms in the country, it was important to train the judges of subordinate judiciary.

It was Justice Thomas’ bench that directed the trial court in Tamil Nadu that Jayalalithaa must be tried after the High Court had discharged her.

‘‘If subordinate judiciary is not pronouncing judgements within a reasonable period of time, the High Court can take action. But in the case of High Court judges, since they are not under anybody, the discipline should be self-imposed,’’ said Thomas in a freewheeling interview to The Indian Express.

Every judge must make it a point that the judgement is announced at the earliest, preferably within two weeks of completion of hearing, he said.

Incidentally, Justice Thomas was responsible for the judgement which allowed a petitioner to seek redress from High Court if a lower court failed to pronounce judgement even three months after completion of hearing. If the judgement still didn’t come, then the petitioner could approach the Chief Justice of the High Court.

Doing his bit to speed up the judicial process, Justice Thomas — in another judgement — had said that no adjournment should be granted if a witness is present in the court, and that he must be examined. This was in a case where a prosecution witness, despite being present in the court on six occasions, had not been examined by the defence lawyer.

Justice Thomas also felt strongly against judges availing of their Leave Travel Concessions (LTC) at a time other than vacation or holidays. ‘‘Good judges avail of their LTC only when the courts are closed for vacation or any other holidays like Holi or Puja. At all other times they should be present to hear and dispose off cases,’’ he said. He also stressed on punctuality aspect, insisting that the judges should come to court on time, and also come prepared, having done some homework.

Justice Thomas also had ideas about bringing about changes in the prison system. He was a part of the bench that had delivered a judgement in 1998, reasoning that inmates should be paid for the labour they perform in prison. ‘‘While imprisoning somebody, the only right you are taking away is that of movement.”