The Missing Brief Syndrome

In Bombay and the peripheral cities, courts have a perennial problem of missing briefs, wrong roznamas, inordinately delayed orders/judgments, delayed issue of process and a whole lot of shortcomings and malfunctioning, by judicial administration, as well as judicial law. There are complaints filed in courts where magistrates fail for months and at times years, to take cognizance, and/or fail to refer the complaints for inquiry or investigation as the case may be.

There are also cases, where one is shown as absent when one is very much present, on a particular date.

Then we have cases with wrong roznama's, stating: Complainant and advocate absent, when infact the complainant, ab-initio, never engaged an advocate, and there is no vakalatnama on record.

And we have, arguments of complaints heard at length and briefs with photocopies of documents relied, exhibited, perused; but yet process isn't issued for months or years.

All said and done, being human, one is prone to err; but when the aggrieved litigant or advocate is admonished for no fault of his/her, it becomes agonizing, and frustrating, grievances in writing and orally brought to the attention of hon'ble learned judicial officers are either not addressed expeditiously or not at all, is there a remedy to this anomaly? Else people may have to seek other legal modes of redressal, as courts are not the only institutions to dispense justice.