Our courts of justice have, over the years, become a hotbed of incomprehensible paradoxes and dead ends. In spite of sharply raising the legal court tariffs and registry fees to somehow discourage unwarranted and vexatious judicial litigations, the number of new cases has been on the increase. In spite of introducing and encouraging the mechanism of alternative dispute resolution and the process of mediation, mandatory and voluntary, the uptake of both has been quite meagre and disappointing. In spite of the innumerable procedural and substantial law reforms aimed at reducing court delays, these delays have been growing longer and longer. In spite of depenalising and decriminalising a good amount of criminal offences, criminal proceedings in our magistrates’ and superior courts are employing too long a time to be decided. Notwithstanding that the complement of magistrates and judges has been increased over the years and even though our courts have gone digital to a large extent, our judiciary is miserably failing to cope with the heavy workload of criminal cases bogged down in archaic, unnecessary and bureaucratic criminal procedures that are still around us today. Of course,...
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