Separation of executive from judiciary needed

In Meghalaya the executive and the judiciary are under one roof. This has led to numerous problems faced by the public in general and undertrial prisoners in particular. A separation of the two is urgently required. .

Often we see scores of undertrial prisoners being brought to the deputy commissioner’s (DC) court and according to some sources these undertrial prisoners are brought here to the DC’s court frequently and that the number of undertrial prisoners in the Jowai District Jail is beyond the recommended capacity. One of the officials also stated that there are some undertrial prisoners who have been serving for years together.
Interestingly, there were two camp courts held recently in the month of May alone but the district jail is still overcrowded as most of the cases under these camp courts are yet to be disposed off. This overcrowding of the jail had not only become a problem to the staff alone but it also became a burden for the exchequer of the state, said one of the sources.
One may wonder as to why these cases were not disposed? According to some of the litigants in the DC’s court, most of their cases were pending for many years and according to them most of the time the magistrates are busy in their administrative work or law and order problem, etc. They (the litigants) also added that the year 2007 was worst because all of the magistrates were busy in the revision of the electoral rolls for the General Elections. As a result there was no trial or disposal of cases and they (litigants) had to bear the burden.
According to some of the magistrates, they gave the same reasons as stated by the litigants for the non disposal of the cases. According to one of the magistrates, he is finding it difficult to conduct a trial as he has very less knowledge about the procedure to adopt, for trying different types of cases. According to this magistrate, it is the duty of the courts to decide upon the fate of the accused if he is guilty or not and with little knowledge of law it is unfair to give a judgment as it will affect the parties concerned.
On narrating the remarks given by the litigants and the magistrates to some of the advocates, the advocates agreed to their (litigants and magistrates) remarks and also expressed their sadness that the magistrates did not know their jurisdiction. The advocates clarified that the law clearly states that all cases between the Tribals have be tried by the district council court.
The advocates also added that there are many instances where cases of the Tribals were tried in the DC’s court. Does this mean that the DC’s court at Jowai is ignorant of the law?
One of the advocate remarks, "In bailable offence a bail petition was rejected not on the ground of insufficiency of surety but on some other flimsy ground. Whereas an accused under any heinous crimes, gets a bail granted without any hesitation."
On comparing the working of the DC’s court and the district council’s court there are vast differences between the two and the working of the district council courts is better than the DC’S court.
This is because all the magistrates in the district council courts, Jowai, have no hesitation to try and disposed off cases, as they are well verse in law and procedures being law graduates.
According to some sources from the district council courts, even though there are a lot of adjournments, the litigants have very less to complain. Unlike the magistrates under DC’s court, the magistrates of the district council courts are free and are engaged only in judicial work and not the administrative work, which are left to the members of district council (MDCs).
The problem with the district council courts lies only with the village courts, as they have to try cases as per the customary laws of the village and each village court has a different procedure in trying cases. The Dolloi of the Elaka is the chairman of the village courts and its members have to be elected by the elders of the Elaka. According to one official of the district council courts said, "A certain procedure should be framed for the trial of cases by the village courts, in order to achieve uniformity of trials."
It is high time that the government separates the judiciary from the executive for the general interest of the public.
CJ: SAJEKI PASSAH ,
http://india.merinews.com