Former Supreme Court of India judge A.S. Oka said the judiciary has not fully met public expectations, warning that self-congratulatory narratives overlook the real struggles faced by common litigants within the legal system.
Former Supreme Court Justice A.S. Oka said that the Indian judiciary has fallen short of the expectations citizens had from it under the Constitution. He observed that the system’s self-congratulation often masks the real experiences of ordinary litigants in the courts.
He said,
“The common man, the citizens of India had great expectations from this legal system, but somehow all those expectations could not be fulfilled by our judiciary,”
Justice Oka added,
“If somebody is to say that the common man has great faith in the judiciary, it should be said by persons who are outside the system of judiciary, not the lawyers or the judges.”
He made these remarks at the 45th JP Memorial Lecture hosted by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). The former judge stressed that the Constitution guarantees social, economic and political justice, a promise that can only be realized if courts deliver timely and high-quality justice.
A substantial portion of his lecture addressed personal liberty under Article 21. He argued that liberty concerns extend beyond bail and pre-trial detention to include environmental harm and demolition drives.
He maintained that environmental disputes are also liberty cases because the right to a pollution-free environment falls within Article 21.
Even extensive mangrove clearing, he warned, becomes a liberty issue given the uncertain and potentially severe consequences six or ten years down the line.
Justice Oka also pointed to the shortfall in the judge-to-population ratio and inadequate court infrastructure as major problems. He recalled a 2002 Supreme Court directive that aimed for 50 judges per million within five years.
He said,
“But today we are struggling at 22 or 23, while some developed countries have ratios of 80–90 or more per million,”
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As head of a court-appointed committee, he estimated that Maharashtra alone needs about 8,500 trial court judges.
He said,
“Around 8,000 posts have been sanctioned but not fully backed by the court infrastructure. We need good infrastructure. It is the government’s obligation to provide infrastructure to the court,”
He also highlighted the burden of avoidable litigation. For example, a typical magistrate’s court in Mumbai may hear 100 to 150 cases a day, many of them cheque-bouncing matters under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, along with criminal, matrimonial and domestic violence cases constituting roughly 30–40 percent of the caseload.
Linking slum conditions to Article 21 protections, Justice Oka pointed to the shortage of affordable housing in cities. He noted that migrants to Mumbai who cannot afford lawful housing are often forced into illegal settlements, paying high rents an issue that generates considerable litigation.
Despite his sharp critique, Justice Oka said there are still judicial decisions that inspire confidence. He urged a focus on diagnosing the real causes of the system’s failures and pinpointing where reforms are most needed.
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