Dismal: 19.49 judges per million people, shows data

The adage goes as "denial of timely justice, amounts to denial of justice itself," – an easy solution to this is to make sure that there are sufficient number of judges and judicial officers to carry out court proceedings. Now, in the Indian context, that solution hints at filling up of gaping vacancies in the courts.

As per information shared in the Lok Sabha, in July, the sanctioned strength of judicial officers in subordinate courts is 2,097. Yet, until September 30, the number of vacancies in the same category in Maharashtra, was found to be 167.

As per the National Judicial Data Grid, on December 11, as many as 11,81,439 civil cases were pending in Maharashtra. However, a total of 23,75,896 criminal cases were pending in the subordinate courts. The pendency might not seem overwhelming but the fact that the ratio of the number of judges to that of cases in the country is dismal, leads to frequent adjournments. Also, the interim between two dates of hearing a case is significantly long.

The judge-population ratio is 19.49 per million or 10 lakh people in India. The Law Commission of India, in its 120th report recommended that the strength of judges per one million population should be increased from 10.5 to 50 judges. As compared to the United States of America, it is 107 judges per million people and again 51 per million people in the United Kingdom.

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Increasing the number of judges underlines the need for additional infrastructure.

Advocate Ahmed Abdi, who has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court, seeking a new and improved court complex for the High Court in the suburbs of the city, which could easily accommodate the judges and litigants said, "Surely, the pendency of cases will reduce if the vacancies are filled up. But, what about the infrastructure? Is it not the government's responsibility to provide the same? The condition of subordinate courts and quasi-judicial bodies in the city and also in other districts of Maharashtra is deplorable. This, eventually, demoralises judicial officers, who feel neglected."

Arrears Committees

In pursuance of the resolution passed in the Chief Justices' Conference held in April 2015, all the High Courts have set up Arrears Committees to take necessary steps for dealing with backlog. The Arrears Committees have chalked out action plans to reduce pendencies in their respective jurisdictions. At the district level, the district judge holds monthly meets for all judicial officers to monitor the progress made in hearing pending cases.

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An official of the Bombay High Court said, "Recently, while hearing a suo-motu petition, the Supreme Court said that the situation in Maharashtra with regard to vacancies for judicial officers in subordinate courts, is not critical. The filling up of judiciary posts is an annual administrative procedure which is followed without fail. The procedure of recruitment started on April 1 and accordingly, 192 judicial officers have been promoted at every step of the lower judiciary. The fresh vacant posts created will be filled up in the annual recruitment procedure which is to be held in 2019."

The officer also cited that it is not possible to increase the number of judicial officers keeping pace with the number of complaints filed every day, as there is an infrastructure crunch.

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"In a city like Mumbai, it is difficult to find space to construct extra court buildings and courtrooms. Also, even if it is given a thought, the buildings cannot be raised in a day's time. Therefore, we cannot practically seek an increase in the number of judges. The only solution is to set up a Lok Adalat. We already do that regularly. The latest one was held on December 8. It solved at least a lakh cases and helped in lowering the burden of pendency," the official said.

Senior Advocate Rajiv Chavan said, "The lower judiciary is more structured than the High Court and the Supreme Court. Recruitment in the lower courts is a continuous process and is done through a process of examination and personal interviews. In fact, it has been noticed that the process helps more number of women advocates to become magistrates."

A SLUGGISH PROGRESS

• As per data shared in the LS, in July, the sanctioned strength of judicial officers in lower courts was 2,097
   
• Yet, until Sept 30, the no. of vacancies for judges in Maha, was found to be 167
   
• As per the National Judicial Data Grid, on December 11, as many as 11,81,439 civil cases were pending in Maharashtra