The other side of the story

Dear Madam,

I refer to the article in your July/August issue on India’s law enforcement problems. While it was interesting to hear so many eminent views on the subject, I felt that the other side of the story also needs to be told.

No doubt the wheels of justice here grind slowly but I would like to know in how many jurisdictions in the developing world one can vouch for the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. Not only are our judges independent and impartial, they have no hesitation in taking on the state/parliament. Any foreign investor should be able to draw comfort from the fact that it has genuine protection against arbitrary state action. India is amongst the rare jurisdictions where executive action can be challenged, not only on the grounds of discrimination but also on the grounds of arbitrariness and unreasonableness.

From a foreigner’s point of view, there is no xenophobia. The judgments may be “right” or “wrong” but it has never been alleged that our courts carried an anti-foreigner bias. Coming to arbitrations, some hard stories apart, enforcement does follow in the vast majority of cases and apart from one case (from Korea), I do not know of any foreign award not being upheld by the Indian courts in the past decade. Contrast this with several prominent jurisdictions in the region where it is hard to find a foreign award ever being enforced!

Anyone familiar with our higher judiciary would agree that it is difficult to find a more dedicated and hard working set of judges. No doubt there is lack of case management and cases get unduly prolonged, for which I would say that the lawyers are to be largely blamed.

All said, I welcome this debate for it leads to introspection. Introspection will hopefully lead to change.

Sumeet Kachwaha
Partner
Kachwaha & Partners
New Delhi