: (Livemint, Editorial)<\/span><\/p>\nGovernment Policies <\/b><\/p>\n
Background:<\/b><\/p>\n\n- The Pendency problem of the Indian Judiciary<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Pleasant surprise:<\/b><\/p>\n\n- The lower courts in Kerala, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Chandigarh have disposed of almost all cases that had been pending for a decade<\/span><\/li>\n
- This is impressive given that the national pendency count is pegged at around 2.3 million cases.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Delhi, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka are also close to clearing out long-pending cases.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Valuable lessons:<\/b><\/p>\n\n- Better case management and procedural reforms can go a long way in reducing case pendency.<\/span><\/li>\n
- This also suggests that there are other effective ways to address the problem of large number of judicial vacancies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Example of High Court of Haryana and Punjab:<\/b><\/p>\n\n- Almost a decade ago, it set up a <\/span>case management system\u2014i.e. a mechanism to monitor every case from filing to disposal.<\/span><\/li>\n
- It also began to <\/span>categorize writ petitions based on their urgency.<\/span><\/li>\n
- In addition, it set<\/span> annual targets and <\/span>action plans for judicial officers to dispose of old cases, and began a <\/span>quarterly performance review to ensure that cases were not disposed of with undue haste.<\/span><\/li>\n
- All these measures<\/span> ushered in a degree of transparency and accountability <\/b>in the system, the results of which are now apparent.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Judicial case management:<\/b><\/p>\n\n- Under this, the court sets a timetable for the case and the judge actively monitors progress.<\/span><\/li>\n
- This marks <\/span>a fundamental shift in the management of cases\u2014the responsibility for which moves from the litigants and their lawyers to the court.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Measures suggested by the Law Commission to deal with the problem of pendency:<\/b><\/p>\n\n- The Law Commission of India in its 230th report has also offered a long list of measures to deal with the pendency of cases. These include:<\/span><\/li>\n
- providing strict guidelines for the grant of adjournments<\/span><\/li>\n
- curtailing vacation time in the higher judiciary<\/span><\/li>\n
- reducing the time for oral arguments unless the case involves a complicated question of law<\/span><\/li>\n
- and framing clear and decisive judgements to avoid further litigation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Way forward:<\/b><\/p>\n\n- Citizens are poorly served by the state twice over: once when their access to the law exists more in name than in fact, and the second time when they are deprived of the benefits of economic growth that has been hamstrung by clogged courts.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The lower courts in states like Kerala and Punjab have shown that this need not be the case. Their example should be replicated across all the lower courts in the country<\/span><\/li>\n
- The courts should also seriously consider incorporating technology into the system; digitizing courts records has been a good start in this context but a lot more can be done.<\/span><\/li>\n
- For example, just like automation powered by Artificial Intelligence is already helping doctors, it can also be leveraged to assist judges and lawyers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Going digital<\/span><\/a>: (Indian Express, Editorial)<\/span><\/p>\nContext<\/b><\/p>\n
The Supreme Court has declared the Right to Privacy a fundamental right, albeit subject to reasonable restrictions in legitimate state interest. In this context, the role of Aadhaar in transforming India is being debated.<\/span><\/p>\nWhat is Aadhar<\/b>?<\/span><\/p>\n\n- An Aadhaar is a 12-digit random unique identification number issued to Indian citizens by the Government of India.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is the issuing and managing agency of the Aadhar Card (which contains the 12 digit Aadhar number and other personal information).<\/span><\/li>\n
- Aadhaar card is issued after recording and verifying every Indian citizen\u2019s details including biometric and demographic data<\/span><\/li>\n
- Any individual, irrespective of age and gender, who is a resident of India, may voluntarily enrol to obtain Aadhaar number.<\/span><\/li>\n
- It is not mandatory to enrol for Aadhar.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Aadhar was primarily introduced for direct transfer of subsidies into citizens bank account.<\/span><\/li>\n
- But now the government has widened the scope of Aadhar. Now, there are many compulsions to link Aadhar to Bank Account, link Aadhar to Mobile Number, link Aadhar to PAN etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What is BHIM?<\/b><\/p>\n
It is a new indigenously developed payment app \u2018BHIM\u2019 \u00a0(Bharat Interface for Money) and \u00a0\u00a0has been named after the main architect of Indian constitution,<\/span> Bhim Rao Ambedkar<\/span><\/p>\nBHIM is a biometric payment system app using Aadhar platform, and is based on Unified Payment Interface (UPI) to facilitate e-payments directly through bank.<\/span><\/p>\n