Shortage of judges causing delays: CJI

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, MARCH 31. The Chief Justice of India, Mr. Justice A.S.Anand, on Saturday said shortage and vacancies of judicial officers in the country have been causing delays in the disposal of justice. He regretted that no scientific study was conducted on the needs of the judiciary since Independence.

Inaugurating the 10th State-level Official Conference of Judicial Officers of Karnataka and the silver jubilee function of the Karnataka State Judicial Officers' Association here, Mr. Justice Anand said delay in the disposal of cases had eroded the confidence of the public in the judiciary. Despite a number of recommendations by successive law commissions and other committees to increase the number of judicial officers, nothing had been done by successive governments, he said.

In India, which had a 1.2 billion population, there were only 13,000 judicial officers, including the Chief Justice of India. There were 10 to 12 officers per one million population. In the U.S., the number was 125 per million and in the U.K. it was 100 per million, and India's neighbouring countries had 30 officers per million population. While there were 680 judges in various High Courts, 182 vacancies remained.

Although the flaw could not be attributed to the Government alone, the apathy in not adhering to the law commissions' recommendations was solely that of the authorities, he said. Appointment of judges to High Courts got delayed as governments sat over the proposals and the proposals had to be channelised through various establishments. It was necessary that the judiciary and the executive worked together to avoid such delays, Mr. Justice Anand said.

The Chief Justice said while there were 12,300 subordinate judicial officers in the country, proposals by various High Courts to sanction at least 5,000 more vacancies were pending. The situation was not different in Karnataka, where 500 vacancies were sought to be created. Urging the Chief Minister, Mr. S.M.Krishna, to look into the matter, Mr. Justice Anand said that the shortage of officers resulted in piling up of judicial work.

Other factors such as procedural delays and delays caused by judges also contributed to the delay in the delivery of justice. Although certain parts of the Code of Civil Procedure had been amended to ensure speedy justice, a lot remained to be done regarding the old and obsolete laws and provisions, he said.

Mr. Justice Anand urged the judicial officers to remember that court time was sacrosanct. They should be punctual and ``think of the litigant waiting for court and think of lawyers. No litigant comes to court for pleasure and he has compelling reasons to come to you.'' He urged the judicial officers not to grant unnecessary adjournments in cases. They should have control over the judicial staff. There should not be any delay in pronouncing judgments after the proceedings concluded. As many as 120 judgments were pending for pronouncement in one particular State for more than two years, he said.

The Chief Minister, the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, Mr. Justice Ponaka Venkatarama Reddy, the association president, Mr. I. S. Antin, former and present judges of the Supreme Court and High Court were present.

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