The Vijayanagara Empire's existing justice system relied on the nobles and sarpanches to mediate the troubles of the common folk. These nobles or higher authorities can be largely corrupt. The vested interests of the nobles or sarpanches determined the right and wrong. They tend to support the person who managed to cough up more money.
Common folk had no choice but to deal with this severe injustice inflicted upon them. This led to huge burials of crimes due to the influence of the nobility and sarpanches. The common people couldn't speak up against the injustices because of the influence they commanded.
Harsha wanted to solve this problem once and for all. This required a huge reform and the proper draft of the judicial framework and laws. He also needed to establish courts and a robust police system to handle the criminals. He had to appoint lawyers from the state to help the poor people with no money get justice.