Justice Delayed is Justice denied.
“The Rule of Law and maintenance of order is the science of governance” - Kautilya’s Arthashastra, 4th century B.C. While Justice delayed is justice denied is a legal maxim of the common law, which traces its origin in the west, as we can see from the above quote, that the principles of justice were laid out in the ancient Indian tradition of governance as well! While the scope of the maxim is very wide and can be argued from various standpoints, for the purpose of this essay we will focus on the social and economic impact of justice delayed and its consequences on the society from the stand point of India. Data on the pendency of cases in India: As of March 2021, 4.06cr. Cases are pending in all the courts put together, out of which 3.51cr or 86% of the total cases are pending with the lower courts, 57lcs cases or 14% or pending with the high court and remaining 66 thousand with the apex court. Charts for the cases pending in lower courts and high courts is presented below. Al