Inability to deliver justice on time biggest hurdle to growth: EAC member

India’s legal system must shed its colonial baggage and entrenched hierarchies if the country is to realise its ambition of becoming a developed economy, Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, said on Saturday.

Besides, he described the inability to enforce contracts or deliver justice on time as the “single biggest hurdle” to India’s growth ambitions.

Speaking at Nyaya Nirmaan-2025, a national dialogue hosted by the General Counsels’ Association of India (GCAI), Sanyal argued that outdated court practices, prolonged vacations, mandatory pre-litigation mediation and a “guild-like” structure of the Bar had created systemic inefficiencies that now pose a larger obstacle to growth than inadequate infrastructure.

“Why do we still address judges as ‘my lord’? Why must a petition be called a prayer? This is not a monarchy, we are citizens of a democratic republic,” he asked, contending that the profession had failed to modernise even as technology and society had moved on.

He criticised the rigid hierarchy within the legal fraternity and multiple layers of distinction, calling it a “medieval guild” out of sync with the 21st century. “Do we really need so many barriers? For several types of legal work, does one even need a law degree to present an argument in court? We live in an age where AI is already capable of handling complex tasks,” he remarked.

Sanyal also took aim at the judiciary’s long breaks. “The courts are a public service like hospitals or the police. Do you close these institutions for summer vacation? Then why should the judiciary function differently?” he said.

His strongest remarks, however, were about the impact of judicial inefficiency on the economy. He described the inability to enforce contracts or deliver justice on time as the “single biggest hurdle” to India’s growth ambitions.

“No matter how much you build roads, ports or smart cities, if disputes cannot be resolved quickly, it will drag everything down,” he cautioned.

Referring to Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, which mandates pre-litigation mediation, Sanyal pointed to data from Mumbai showing that “98 to 99 per cent” of such mediations fail. “The only result is higher costs and an extra six months of delay. Why not leave it as voluntary? Reform with compulsion is not a reform,” he argued, adding that he had personally pushed to ensure a similar clause was dropped from the Mediation Act, 2023.

He also spoke of what he called the “99-1 problem” where most of India’s regulations are designed to prevent misuse by a tiny minority because the legal system cannot be trusted to deal with exceptions swiftly. “The outcome is that 99 per cent of citizens end up suffering because rules are made to plug the 1 per cent,” he said.

Calling for a “cultural acceptance” of shortcomings within the legal community instead of self-congratulation, Sanyal urged professionals to “pull up its socks” and face up to the urgency of reform.

“We have 20–25 years to make this transition. Nobody else is going to do it. It’s up to us, the citizens of this republic,” he added.

The conclave held around the theme ‘Reimagining India’s Legal Foundations for Viksit Bharat@2047’ was attended by ministers, judges, policymakers and industry leaders, including Supreme Court Justices Manmohan and Pankaj Mithal, who heard Sanyal’s blunt remarks from the front row.