Indian courts with their vacancies and long vacations are a big hurdle to ease of doing business, says India’s economic survey 2019

• Ability to enforce contracts and resolve disputes indicated as single biggest constraint in achieving higher ease of doing business ranking.
  
• Indian courts’ working days hamper economy with Apex court working 190 days a year. 232 days for high courts and 244 days for subordinate courts.
  
• India has over 3.5 crore pending cases with 87.54% cases pending in high courts and lower courts.
  
• Better management, increase in working days, and use of high end technology sighted as possible measures for improvement.
  

India’s Supreme Court works 190 days in all every year, while the number is 232 for High Courts and 244 for lower courts-- thanks to the British-era practice of taking long vacations and an inordinate number of holidays. In 2019, when the country has over 3.5 crore pending cases, it is time to overhaul judicial practices. That’s a common view now echoed by the latest economic survey authored by the Chief Economic Advisor K Subramanian, which was presented in the Parliament today.

Making matters worse is the 2,279 vacant positions for judges in lower courts.

The report indicated that India’s biggest constraint in moving up the rankings in ease of doing business is the inability of businesses to enforce contracts and slow resolution of pending disputes at the courts.

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, and West Bengal are the worst in terms of pendency while Punjab and Delhi have the best case clearance rates among Indian states.

A separate judicial service

In this regard, the report proposed the creation of a specialized service for the Indian judiciary, named the Indian Courts and Tribunal Services (ICTS) that would specially be assigned the administration aspects of the legal system in the country. The recommendation is much in the lines of the Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunals Services in the UK, the Administrative Office of the US Courts, and the Court Administration Service in Canada.

“Major problem lies with the quality of the administration of the courts system,” Subramanian’s survey said, which also recommended use of technology to improve courts’ efficiency.