Bombay High Court at 164: An Apology for What It Ought to Be.

Bombay High Court was established on 14 August 1862. Today marks its 164th anniversary. As someone who has regularly appeared before the Bombay High Court, initially as an outstation lawyer and now as a regular practitioner, I am afraid to say that what it is today is but an apology for what it ought to have been.
The under-trials, MSMEs and common litigants are made to wait for years on end to hear the cases of the rich and super-rich. While the kith and kin of judges and senior lawyers are heard at great leisure, often discharging the Board itself, the cases of less privileged sections of society are either never heard, or heard briefly and often dismissed offering technical reasons. Article 226 and PILs are the classical examples of discrimination and arbitrariness.
The Bar is dead, only a requiem remains. The only role of the Bar Association is to welcome and send off judges. In such functions, lawyers vie among themselves in the art of sycophancy and bootlicking.
As each day passes, the scenario is going from bad to worse.
Live streaming of court proceedings, preservation of such records, and access to those records by lawyers and litigants are the only means to save the court from further decay. Cameras cannot lie. It is the surest guarantee against improbity and other evils and to secure transparency and accountability in the administration of justice.
The public viewing of VC hearings has been suspended. It ought to have created great outcry. But there is none. The print and electronic media are silent. The Government of the day has long since surrendered to the court, fearing backlash. The opposition parties, like the mainstream media, are silent. There is none to speak except my humble self. Unbelievable. But it is the undeniable truth. I call upon one and all to join NLC’s National Campaign for Transparency and Accountability in Judiciary.