Frequent adjournments a form of ''justice tax'' on poor litigants: Prez

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 9

Frowning upon the practice of frequent adjournments, President Ram Nath Kovind has termed it a sort of "justice tax" on poor litigants and asked the bench and the bar to ponder over high litigation cost.

"After all, frequent adjournments, often sought only to delay cases, are an inconvenience and a form of a justice tax on poor and less-well-off litigants," the President said at the launch of the festschrift 'Law, Justice & Judicial Power -- Justice P N Bhagwati's Approach' here last evening.

"When the judiciary attempts to find solutions to the aberration of frequent adjournments, it expands the idea of justice," he said.

The President also disapproved of high cost of litigation. "Litigation fees should not create a divide between haves and have-nots, and between litigants who can afford and cannot afford considerable fees. This is an urgent issue for the bench and the bar to consider and help resolve," Kovind said.

Both the President and Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi lauded the role of former CJI Bhagwati's contribution to the jurisprudence of Public Interest Litigation.

Noting that Justice Bhagwati "strived to expand the concept of justice and make justice that much more accessible to common people", Kovind said it was not without reason that Justice Bhagwati had been called the father of public interest litigation in India.

Justice Bhagwati was more than just a judge and a scholar, the President said, describing him as an institution in himself.

Justice Gogoi hailed Justice Bhagwati as a legal craftsman who utilised his tenure in the Supreme Court to turn it into an opportunity to give shape to the aspirations of the Indian constitution and it was his dedication coupled with the empathy for the underprivileged that led him to gravitate towards unshackling access to justice for the masses.

The CJI said Justice Bhagwati along with Justice VR Krishna Iyer led a nationwide movement for promotion of legal services, organized legal aid camps in distant villages and mobilized high court judges to go to villages to solve people's problems.

"With an activist mind and fine legal engineering, Justice Bhagwati embarked upon the task of further expansion of the right to life guaranteed by Article 21. This led to a reading of several hidden aspects of life in Article 21like right to free legal aid and right to clean environment," the CJI said.