Letters: Justice delayed

M J Antony has pointed out in his column “From here to uncertainty” (September 14) that massive delays in cases are ensured through every possible dirty trick employed by litigants who have to pay and their lawyers simply because Section 34 of the Civil Procedure Code provides for simple interest on the decreed amount.

This is a manifest injustice because in the intervening period the claimant has to either borrow money at compound interest to cover the period of delay, or he loses the opportunity to invest the money and earn compound interest on it.

Antony reports that the Supreme Court has asked for a correction of this (presumably long-standing) anomaly by the legislature — but is anyone listening? Our government should immediately issue an ordinance to correct this anomaly with back-dated effect from, say, January 1, 2000 in the interest of justice for the claimants and to free our courts from delays.

No one except those currently misusing the judicial process to reduce the actual value of the amounts decreed by our courts will object.

Alok Sarkar, Kolkata