Link – https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-access-to-justice-is-a-fundamental-right-2233867

With the recent elevation of Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Ashok Bhushan and the former additional solicitor general L Nageswara Rao as Supreme Court judges, the working strength of SC judges has reached 29 as against the total sanctioned strength of 31.

Thirty million cases are pending in Indian courts. According to the Law Minister this is a “worrisome backlog.” Clearly, several causes contribute to this enormous judicial pendency in India. The reasons would include improper infrastructure, the inadequate budget allocation for the courts, the dire need for judicial reforms and case management, the shortage of judges and the need for efficient alternative dispute resolution mechanism. Two significant reasons for the exorbitant number of pending cases are the high vacancy of judges and minuscule judges-to population ratio.

With the recent elevation of Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Ashok Bhushan and the former additional solicitor general L Nageswara Rao as Supreme Court judges, the working strength of SC judges has reached 29 as against the total sanctioned strength of 31. 

Further, as per the 2015 statistics, in the District and Subordinate Courts, the total strength and working strength was 20495 and 15421 respectively. 5074 posts of District Judges were vacant as on June 30, 2015. The vacancy of judges in High Courts today is 44%. The District Court vacancy position is about 25%. India has one of the highest number of judges in the world, but yet the judges to population ratio is significantly lower as compared to the judicial systems in developed countries. In 1987, the Law Commission of India in its 120th Report recommended that the number of judges be increased from 7,675 to 40,357, increasing the ratio of judges from 10.5 to 50 judges per million population. Based on the above recommendation, the present Judges to population ratio works out to 13 judges for one million people. This is one of the lowest ratios in the world. In All India Judges ‘Association & Ors. Vs. Union of India & Ors., the Supreme Court took note of the inadequacy of the number of the judges, and said that since an independent and efficient judicial system is part of the basic structure of the Constitution, it is important to have an adequate number of judges for a successful justice delivery mechanism.

In the recent Chief Justices Conference, the Chief Justice of India TS Thakur referring to the 120th Law Commission report, made an appeal to the Centre to increase the number of judges to 40,000 to adjudicate the ever growing number of pending cases in India. The CJI said that the infrastructure and manpower for the judiciary remain far shorter than what was recommended by the Law Commission, almost three decades ago.  Access to justice is a fundamental right of every citizen, and it is the duty of the Parliament to ensure that the citizens are not denied rights.

“This article was first published by The DNA. Reproduction in any form would need written permission from The DNA and the author.” 

 

Justice Access to justice Fundamental right Judicial pendency Need adequate number of Judges Need for Judicial reforms