Quasi-Judicial Courts

Why in News?

• Recently, The most critical issue faced by Quasi-judicial Courts is the lack of adequate supervision and ownership by the administrative and political leadership.

Highlights

• A quasi-judicial body is “an organ of Government other than a Court or Legislature, which affects the rights of private parties either through adjudication or rulemaking”.
• It Is not mandatory that a Quasi-Judicial Body has to necessarily be an organisation resembling a Court of Law.
• For example, the Election Commission of India is also a Quasi-Judicial Body but does not have its core functions as a Court of Law.
• In the conventional judicial process, a large section of the populace for the fear of expenditure may hesitate from approaching the Courts, thus defeating the purpose of justice.
• Quasi-judicial bodies, on the other hand, have an overall low-cost which encourages people to seek redressal for their grievances.
• Tribunals and other such bodies do not follow any lengthy or complex procedure for submitting application or evidence etc.
• Quasi-judicial bodies, while taking up specific matters, majorly help by sharing the massive workload of the Judiciary.
• Like the National Green Tribunal adjudicating the matters related to environment and pollution.
• Quasi-judicial bodies are accessible, free from technicalities, expeditious and proceed more rapidly and efficiently as manned by experts.
• The government should make the efficient functioning of these agencies a priority and clearly articulate its position on the issue.
• Detailed data on the functioning of these agencies must be collected and published from time to time, at least annually.
• These should be laid before the concerned legislatures.
• These results should be the basis of decisions regarding the rationalising of staff strength.
• An electronic platform should be established to handle all ancillary work related to the administration of justice, such as filing of complaints, issue of summons, movement of case records between courts, issuing copies of the judgments and so on.