"This has", Patil continued, "ominous portents. We cannot allow a situation where the common man is tempted to take law into his own hand and subscribe to the deviant culture of lynch mob." The President also touched upon the issue of the prohibitive cost of legal consultation, saying, the "Bar and the Bench must address themselves to this problem".

Patil had started by saying that the Bar and the Bench ought to live up to the esteem that the honourific "majesty" connotes. Although she acknowledged that judiciary alone was not to be held responsible for the huge and still growing arrears and delays in courts, Chief Justice Balakrishnan suggested that the finger should rather be pointed at the lack of good governance which was the chief factor behind the scourge of delay in dispensation of justice.

If Patil had shown uncharacteristic candour, CJI for his part strongly defended the judiciary. In a forceful rebuttal, he blamed the government saying the latter was more responsible for the overloading of courts. Lack of proper and good governance largely contributes to the number of cases in subordinate courts where 90% of the total arrears are pend ng, he said at the seminar.

The CJI said: "These litigations are on account of lack of proper governmental administration. If the decision making authorities take firm, independent and impartial decisions, the citizens would not normally be driven to litigation." As a re-affirmation of his views, he said the government is a litigant in more than 50% of the cases.

He said the lethargic and outmoded investigation carried out by the police, despite the strides made by the country in science and technology, coupled with the weak prosecution, both of which work under the government, contribute immensely to delay in dispensation of justice. "Inept policing and weak prosecution are hugely responsible for slowing down and protracting criminal trial in many courts," Justice Balakrishnan said. Patil's remarks, which coincided with another instance of vigilante justice, with a mob brutally assaulting a murder case accused in Bihar, came at a time when a perception is beginning to grow that she might be seeking to be proactive. Last week saw her summoning five ministers to discuss how to frame an action plan for ensuring better convergence among schemes pertaining to gender justice.

The usually restrained Justice Balakrishnan strongly argued to widen the arc of responsibility for judicial delays. He pointed out that the delay is also caused by the large number of cases filed by financial institutions for recovery of their dues as if the courts were their collecting agents.