JOIN USCommission chairman A R Lakshmanan said, “There must be full utilisation of the court working hours. The judges must be punctual and lawyers must not be asking for adjournments, unless it is absolutely necessary.”
Grant of adjournment
In its report submitted to Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily, the commission said grant of adjournment must be guided strictly by the provisions of Order 17 of the Civil Procedure Code and unnecessary adjournments should be avoided.
Many cases are filed on similar points and one judgment can decide a large number of cases. Such cases should be clubbed with the help of technology and used to dispose of other such cases on a priority basis; this will substantially reduce the arrears, said the commission.
Another vital suggestion is that vacations in the higher judiciary should be reduced by at least 10 to 15 days and the working hours should be extended by another 30 minutes.
The strike by the lawyers in any place should be banned in accordance with the ruling by the apex court in Harish Uppal (ex-Capt.) vs Union of India case.
With regard to time management in the courts during the arguments, the Commission said oral arguments should be curtailed to one-and-a-half hours and lawyers should be asked to give written submissions rather than wasting time in repetitive arguments.
10-year jail for negligent driving
The Law Commission has recommended to the government to enhance the punishment from two years to ten years for culprits causing death due to negligent driving on roads, reports DHNS from New Delhi.
In its recent report, Commission chairman Justice A R Lakshmanan said Section 304A of the IPC should be amended to make the offence of rash and negligent driving punishable with a maximum of ten years’ imprisonment, instead of two years.
“It has also been recommended that anyone causing the death of any person by driving under the influence of drinks or drugs should be punishable with a minimum term of two years’ imprisonment. We have also recommended various other legal measures to combat road accidents,” said Lakshmanan. The report submitted to Minister Veerappa Moily said more than 100,000 Indians were dying every year in road accidents and at least a million injured or maimed. The Commission said it was probably due to lack of proper provisions in the law that travel through Indian roads had become a tryst with death.