We need to do something drastically about the state of our Judiciary.Getting justice in a fast and fair manner is essential in the making of a great nation.
The latest figures released by the Supreme Court tell a story — the state governments are not filling vacancies in trial courts. The ‘all hands on deck’ call by the Chief Justice of India to tackle the monstrous pendency of nearly 3 crore cases in the high courts and trial courts is not yielding the expected result despite best efforts from judges as the judiciary is grappling with large vacancies in the HCs and the lower judiciary. The vacant posts of judges in the trial courts have remained the same for the last one year. If it was 3,233 at the end of last year, at present it is 3,239. The sanctioned strength of judges in the lower judiciary being 16,158, the vacancy percentage works out to 20. The blame should also be shared by the Chief Justice of India and the Collegium headed by him as the high courts, for which they are the sole recommending authority on appointment of judges, are also reeling under a huge vacancy, a little over 30%. The HCs, having a pendency of 38 lakh cases, are functioning with 620 judges as against a sanctioned strength of 886. The biggest high court in the country — Allahabad HC — accounts for the most number of vacancies in a single HC. Against the sanctioned 160 posts of judges, there are only 76 judges — over 50% vacancy. The Punjab and Haryana HC has 21 judges posts vacant, Andhra Pradesh HC 19, Calcutta HC 18, Patna HC 16, Madras HC 15, Bombay HC 13 and 12 each in the HCs of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Kerala. And the situation in the trial courts follow an identical pattern, with Uttar Pradesh accounting for the most number of pending cases and the highest vacancy in trial court judges. While the number of cases pending has touched 50 lakh, the number of vacant judges post is 540.
The latest figures released by the Supreme Court tell a story — the state governments are not filling vacancies in trial courts. The ‘all hands on deck’ call by the Chief Justice of India to tackle the monstrous pendency of nearly 3 crore cases in the high courts and trial courts is not yielding the expected result despite best efforts from judges as the judiciary is grappling with large vacancies in the HCs and the lower judiciary. The vacant posts of judges in the trial courts have remained the same for the last one year. If it was 3,233 at the end of last year, at present it is 3,239. The sanctioned strength of judges in the lower judiciary being 16,158, the vacancy percentage works out to 20. The blame should also be shared by the Chief Justice of India and the Collegium headed by him as the high courts, for which they are the sole recommending authority on appointment of judges, are also reeling under a huge vacancy, a little over 30%. The HCs, having a pendency of 38 lakh cases, are functioning with 620 judges as against a sanctioned strength of 886. The biggest high court in the country — Allahabad HC — accounts for the most number of vacancies in a single HC. Against the sanctioned 160 posts of judges, there are only 76 judges — over 50% vacancy. The Punjab and Haryana HC has 21 judges posts vacant, Andhra Pradesh HC 19, Calcutta HC 18, Patna HC 16, Madras HC 15, Bombay HC 13 and 12 each in the HCs of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Kerala. And the situation in the trial courts follow an identical pattern, with Uttar Pradesh accounting for the most number of pending cases and the highest vacancy in trial court judges. While the number of cases pending has touched 50 lakh, the number of vacant judges post is 540.
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