Turning court case backlogs become golden troves.

• The Indian legal system is facing a significant backlog, with the Supreme Court of India having 82,000 cases, the High Courts over 62 lakh, and the lower courts close to five crore. Nearly 50 lakh cases have been pending for over 10 years.

• The adversarial system is prevalent, with multiple interim applications during its passage and plural appeals after the first passage is crossed.

• The country has one of the lowest judge to population ratios, with 21 judges for every million citizens.

• The adversarial system results in multiple interim applications during its passage and plural appeals after the first passage is crossed.

• There are shortages of infrastructure, capacity, finance, and human resources.

• Reform and restructure are challenging to maintain the judiciary’s functionality.

• Solutions include data governance, retired judges serving in ad hoc capacity, and focusing on large swathes of litigation.

• The government’s role in nearly half the disputes coming to court will stunt reform unless it learns to litigate less and becomes more amenable to settlement options.

• The backlog is a significant issue, with many claims for redress and justice of millions of citizens and causes.

• The process of mediation, a new method of dispute resolution, has been introduced in India in 2005.

• The backlog is a burden for the judge, but for the mediator, it is a treasure trove.

• The cost of mediating a case is a fraction of litigating that case, and it saves multiple hearings spread over indeterminable time spans.

• The results achieved in mediation often outweigh anything you can get in litigation — not just a practical solution but often a restoration of relationships.