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Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC), has sounded a sharp warning that India’s judicial system is the single biggest barrier to the nation’s ambition of becoming a developed economy or “Viksit Bharat”. Speaking at the Nyaya Nirmaan 2025 conference on Saturday, Sanyal emphasised that unless sweeping reforms are carried out in the legal and judicial ecosystem, other economic or policy reforms will not be sufficient to achieve the country’s development aspirations.

Judicial Bottlenecks and India’s Growth Window

Recording of my speech at Nyaya Nirmaan 2025 where I argue that the legal system is now the single biggest constraint to India's socio-economic progress. India can no longer wait for reforms in this sector. https://t.co/XqySbVQRZk

— Sanjeev Sanyal (@sanjeevsanyal) September 22, 2025

Sanjeev Sanyal framed his argument around India’s narrowing demographic window. He noted that the country, now the world’s fourth-largest economy and the fastest-growing major economy, has only 20–25 years to convert growth momentum into broad-based prosperity.

“After that, we will grow old, just like Japan and Europe today,” he cautioned. “This is the two decades in which we have to grow as rapidly as we can. But the judicial system, in my view, is now the single biggest hurdle to becoming Viksit Bharat.”

According to him, the inability to enforce contracts and resolve disputes efficiently forces policymakers to over-regulate, creating a “99–1 problem.” Instead of trusting the judiciary to handle the 1% of cases that may go wrong, regulators end up drafting rules that burden the 99% of businesses and citizens.

Case Study: Pre-Litigation Mediation Failure

Sanjeev Sanyal singled out mandatory pre-litigation mediation under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. Drawing on data from two leading commercial courts in Mumbai, he revealed that “between 98–99% of pre-litigation mediation actually fails,” adding that this provision only increases delays, costs, and procedural complexity without easing court backlogs.

He pointed out that an attempt to extend mandatory mediation to civil cases in 2023 was narrowly averted after facing criticism from multiple stakeholders.

Cultural and Structural Challenges

Beyond procedural inefficiencies, Sanjeev Sanyal urged deep-rooted cultural and structural change within the legal profession.

• He criticised what he called a “medieval guild-like” stratification of roles — from senior advocates to advocates-on-record — arguing that many routine legal functions could be streamlined or simplified, especially in the age of artificial intelligence.
• He questioned why litigants must always rely on law degrees to argue cases, suggesting that citizens should be allowed greater access and autonomy if they can follow standard operating procedures.
• He further criticised archaic courtroom traditions such as addressing judges as “my lord” and pointed out that long judicial vacations amount to justice being “effectively shut down for extended periods.”

“The judiciary is a public service like any other part of the state,” Sanyal stressed. “Court availability should match public expectations of other state services.”

Call for Urgent Reform

Sanjeev Sanyal’s message was clear: judicial reform is not optional but urgent. “We don’t have time to waste. We all have to pull together,” he said, noting that other professions, such as bureaucrats, chartered accountants, and economists, have gradually adapted to reform demands, and it is now time for the legal profession to do the same.

Concluding his address, Sanjeev Sanyal directly appealed to legal practitioners:
“I’ve really come here to beseech my fellow citizens that you, from the legal profession, really pull up your socks. Because we are waiting for you to really push for this.”

Why It Matters

Sanyal’s remarks highlight a long-standing concern: India’s judicial backlog, with over 5 crore pending cases, continues to undermine investor confidence, governance reforms, and ease of doing business rankings. His intervention places judicial reform at the heart of the Viksit Bharat agenda, suggesting that without modernising its courts, India’s demographic dividend and growth window could be squandered.

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