70,000 judges required to clear three crore pending cases in the country: CJI
08 May, Cuttack
Chief Justice of India (CJI) T S Thakur today said as high as 3 crore cases were pending in various courts across the country and nearly 70,000 judges will be required to clear the pending the cases.
Addressing the opening day of the centennial celebration of the Orissa High Court here, Justice Thakur said in 1987, the Law Commission had suggested the requirement of 44,000 judges in the country to clear the pending cases. And after 30 years down the line ” We still continued to work with a depleted strength of only 18,000 judges in the country.”
The CJI said as many as 170 proposals relating to the judiciary are pending with the government and the Prime Minister has been apprised of it.
He said, ”The shortage of judges was one of the formidable challenges the Indian judiciary was facing at present yet the there has been least erosion in the judiciary but we have much difficult task ahead to maintain the confidence of the people on the judiciary.”
“Access to justice is a fundamental right and the government cannot afford to deny the people their fundamental rights,” Justice Thakur said and expressed concern over the under trials languishing in jails over the years. He said, “We must ensure that the undertrials languishing in jails for years together should be released soon and the cases pending for years together be disposed of soon.”
Supreme Court Justice Dipak Mishra, Orissa High Court Chief Justice Vineet Saran, and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik were among those present at the event.
Speaking on the occasion, Patnaik said the importance of judiciary in a democratic society can hardly be exaggerated. It administers justice, protects the rights of the citizens and acts as an interpreter and the guardian of the Constitution. Upholding the rule of law and making every citizen equal before the law is one of the primary responsibilities of the judiciary, he said adding that the courts have largely succeeded in fulfilling this responsibility.
The State Government, Patnaik said was continuously providing adequate infrastructure support to this institution. The state government he said is committed to the overall strengthening and development of the justice delivery system.
The Government has rendered all assistance and financial support for infrastructural development of the courts in the state and established 30 first class judicial magistrate courts for ensuring speedy trial of offences against women in the state.
He said another 26 additional judicial magistrates’ courts were set up in remote and topographically challenging areas of the state and set up rural courts to cater to the population living there.