Judicial Productivity in India

Abstract

The essential thesis of this paper is that the practices and associated expectations of participants in the Indian court system are significantly different from most other countries that have inherited their legal systems from the British. An examination of those differences can help to identify strategies that may be pursued in overcoming a significant case backlog and delay problem in Indian courts. International comparisons with courts in other jurisdictions are not only useful and appropriate, but offer new opportunities for reforming the Indian court system that may hitherto have been overlooked. If the reader agrees with the author’s arguments and conclusions, then this paper offers a novel range of areas in which reforms may be advanced. If, on the other hand, the effect of this paper is to provoke a contradictory response from Indian commentators by reference to practices in other countries, then it will have achieved its purpose in seeking to gain recognition of the value of international comparisons as a means of identifying court system reform strategies in India and, hopefully, elsewhere.