"A powerful independent judiciary is of great importance for any democratic country. Hence a judicial reform is a process to fulfill the demand of justice." - Hinesh Rathod

Introduction:
The Judiciary is the body responsible for interpreting law and imparting meaning to it. It is the defender of the constitution and guardian of democracy systems. Under Indian Constitution the judiciary the judiciary systems is a single integrated systems of courts for the union and state with Supreme Court at apex authority.

However the Indian Judiciary is currently experiencing a number of problems. As a result the public is losing faith in the judiciary system. Since Justice delayed is justice denied it is crucial that the judiciary solve these obstacles as soon as possible.

What are the Challenges related to Indian Judicial systems?

• Huge Pendency of Case
  In 2022, the total number of pending cases all types and at all levels rose to 50 million or 5 crores , including over 169,000 court cases pending for more than 30 years at district and high court level. 4.3 crores out of 5 crores cases, i.e. more than 85% cases are pending in district court till December 2022.
   
• Under trial Prisoners
  Accordingly National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows Among the 5, 54,034 inmates across India's prisons 77.1% were under trials and 22.2% were those who had been convicted by a court of law.
  
  India's overcrowded prisons confined more than half a million inmates at the end of 2021, with majority of them being those under trial for crimes they had allegedly committed.
   
• Recruitment Delays
  Judicial posts are filled as immediately as necessary. For a country of 135 million, there are only 14.7 judges per millions populations in the country.
   
• Favoritisms and Nepotism in appointment
  Transparency in appointment of judges is also necessary for improvement justice systems.
   
• Delayed in Judgment
  Justice delayed is justice denied is legal maxim. It means that if legal redress or equitable relief to an injury party is available but is not forthcoming in a timely fashion, it considered as same as having no remedy at all.
   
• Judicial Infrastructure
  Adequacy of Judiciary infrastructure is pre requisite for reduction of pendency and backlog of case in court. Therefore it is necessary to improve judicial infrastructure scheme with help of state government and central government.
   
• Inequity of representation
  Another area of concern is the composition of the higher judiciary, where woman are fairly underrepresented.

What should be the way of Forward?

• Transforming in the appointment systems (Fair and Accountability)
• Reforming Investigation (Many Innocent people being wrongfully charged and punished.)
• Time Limits for taking decision ( Time Limit of delivered judgement )
• National Judicial Infrastructure Authority of India (Improve Infrastructure for court systems )
• Innovative Solution to Justice (Solution for clearing massive backlog)
• Better District Courts (Primary area of Concern )
• Ensuing Gender Equality (Promote Woman Judge )

Conclusion:
To put it In a Nutshell Judiciary reforms needed for the judicial system in India. After all democracy is for the people, by the people, of the people of India.

Reference:

• https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/time-for-transformative-judicial-revolution/print_manually
• https://blog.ipleaders.in/need-for-reforms-in-the-indian-judiciary/
• https://www.insightsonindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Judicial-Reforms-in-India.pdf
• https://ctconline.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/2022/seminar-presentation/essay/6-Muskan-Dadia.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendency_of_court_cases_in_India
• https://thewire.in/rights/indian-jails-undertrial-prisoners
• https://archive.pib.gov.in/archive/releases98/lyr2002/rdec2002/10122002/r101220022.html
• https://doj.gov.in/judicial-infrastructure

Written By: Mr. Hinesh Navratan Rathod, B.com, LLB student -Thakur Ramnarayan College of Law (TRCL), Mumbai.

Also Read:

• Judicial Reforms: Access To Justice