Shortage of judges, pendency of cases add to litigants’ woes

Even as the focus remains on the shortage of judges in higher courts across the country, it is the lower courts, including the district courts, which are reeling equally under the shortage as well.
As per statistics, there is a shortage of over 5,000 judicial officers responsible for delivering justice through subordinate courts. Shortage of judicial officers coupled with increased pendency of cases is adding to litigants’ woes.
In November, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice headed by former Law Minister Anand Sharma sought response on the delay in filling up the vacancies in the higher courts. The committee stated that such a large number of vacancies is alarming in nature and has direct bearing upon the access to justice for common people.
As per the available data, the total sanctioned strength of the subordinate courts is little over 21,000. However, the same are functioning with 16,194 judicial officers. 
Evidently, the shortage of judicial officers directly impacts the pendency of cases and thus increases litigation woes for the public besides other reasons, including delay in disposal of court cases, lack of court management systems, frequent adjournments and strikes by lawyers.
In 11 states, the recruitment of subordinate judiciary is done by the high courts, while in the remaining 17 states it is done by the state public service commissions. With 794 vacancies, Gujarat tops the list among states with highest number of vacant posts. It is followed by Bihar with 792 vacancies. 
Uttar Pradesh stands at number three with 595 vacancies in lower courts. The 24 high courts face a shortage of nearly 450 judges. Nearly three crore cases are pending in courts across India.
Sharing his views with The Statesman, Advocate Tek Tejinder Pal Singh, said, “Keeping in view the pendency of cases, appointing more judges is the need of the hour. However, there should be no compromise on integrity while selecting judges. High Courts and the Supreme Court should also take serious note of the pendency of cases in respective courts. Most importantly, the Justice Delivery System must not fail due to any ills going on in the system”.
In the past decade, the number of pending civil cases alone has gone up by 16 per cent. From 72, 54,145 civil cases in 2005 to 84,056,47 in 2015. It is pertinent to note that in 2005, the working strength of the judges in the district and subordinate courts was 11,682, which increased to 16,070 in 2015. Despite the increase in the number of judges and a decline in the number of cases being filed, the pendency of civil cases has increased.
Similarly, of the sanctioned strength of 1,041 judges in high courts across India, 442 posts (42%) were vacant as on March 31, 2016, according to latest 2016 Supreme Court data. 
The high courts of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana face the largest deficit of judges—59 per cent, followed by the Allahabad, Rajasthan and Jharkhand high courts. Only Manipur and Tripura high courts are working with full strength.
The current judge-to-population ratio is 10.5 per million population although the 120th report by Law Commission recommends a judge-to-population ratio of 50 per million population.

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