“The judicial delivery system is undergoing a crisis of credibility now a days. Our judges and lawyers are losing trust and confidence of the people and media slowly and steadily,” said Supreme Court Judge R V Raveendran.
   Delivering the inaugural address at the post-centenary silver jubilee celebrations of Mangalore Bar Association here on Monday, he said that the power of the judiciary is not the power to decide cases, but the trust and confidence of common man.
   Speaking on the judgements in the recent Jessica Lall and Priyadarshini Mathur murder cases and the media reports on them, he said that the judiciary has come to such a stage that it has to convict some one as the public wants, to prove its credibility. Urging the lawyers to start the trust building measures, he said that the media shouldn't be given a chance to flay the judicial system. “A sufficiently strong foundation of credibility needs to be laid so that one or two cases can not disrupt it”, he added.
Scared of courts?
   Quoting a recent panel discussions in one of the TV channels, Mr Raveendran said that even the elite of the public are scared of the court due to (i) the delay and consequential harassment in courts, (ii) uncertainty of outcome even after years of litigation, (iii) cost of litigation and (iv) doubt about the integrity of the bench and the bar.
Parallel courts
   The banks and the telecom companies have stopped approaching the courts to recover their dues, as it is a very lengthy process. Instead, they have their own recovery agencies- local goons- who finish the work in a week’s time. This encouragement of the mafia wouldn't have happened if the judicial system functioned properly, he said. He also mentioned the ‘Nyaya Panchayats’ which decide a large chunk of the problems usually settled in courts. Advocates are barred in these panchayats where the decisions are made by a five-member jury. This again shows the people’s lack of trust in the judicial system, he opined. 
   All these drains the lawyers off their existing work, he said and added that it is now time for the lawyers to wake up and be more practical to ensure speedy and reasonable justice to the litigants.
   “Role of lawyers is more important than that of judges in bringing back the glory of the justice delivery system,” he opined and urged the lawyers to raise their ethical standards and not to think of litigation as a business, but a service.  Former Chief Justice of Karnataka and Kerala High Courts V S Malimath spoke on the ‘Role of Bench and Bar in justice delivery system’. Chairman of the Karnataka State Bar Council Rajendra Desai presided. District and Sessions Judge H M Bharathesh, MLAs Yogish Bhat and Krishna Palemar, MLCs Blasius D’Souza and Capt Ganesh Karnik were present.