KIRAN BEDI’S AAP KI KACHHERI- worth emulating!

Lately, we have witnessed PM’s continuous efforts to crescendo the chronic problems of our judiciary. And well it is worth it. With over 37 lakh cases pending in the high courts across the country and over 50,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court, the problem is worth catching eyeballs and raising eyebrows.
Effective and efficient judiciary empowers the minorities. Keeping in view the diverse portfolio of people that our country embraces, a whole lot of social evils and crimes orchestrated towards minorities and political hooligans who try to usurp the little available space to the minorities (like the one during the Orissa riots), it is very important to streamline the system to reinstate the faith of the people in it. Expectedly, the conviction rate for cases of atrocities against SCs and STs is less than 30% as against the national average of 42%.
A commission headed by former Supreme Court judge has attributed the arrears to long vacations in the judiciary. The Supreme Court works only 190 days a year, that’s just a little over six months, in sharp contrast with the government offices that work 245 days. It is an outdated, heavily borrowed British legacy that should have been done away with 60 years back.
Fast track judiciary not only lends space to the minorities but also voice; and empowers them. Henceforth, apart from curtailing the number of holidays, an example worth emulating is Kiran Bedi’s Aap Ki Kachheri. We are a highly litigious society, too ready to take disputes to court. Bodies like Aap Ki Kachheri should proliferate so that they can resolve disputes at their level. This could also decrease the burden on high courts and Supreme Court. With the appointment of reputed bureaucrats and retired judges as judges, people would have no problem taking their disagreements to these bodies first, having known that litigating to a high court their cases would take very long before it comes up for hearing. On the other hand, the way Kiran Bedi delivers justice within half an hour is commendable.
So beacons like Kiran Bedi are already there, we only need to emulate!