Mediation an option to clear backlog of cases: CJI
CHENNAI: “At a time when the courts have been accused of delaying disposal of cases and with over three crore pending cases before the courts today, mediation could be the solution as we wait for the government to step in and appoint more judges,” Chief Justice of India T S Thakur said on Saturday.
He was speaking at the Mediation Awareness Programme jointly organised by the Tamil Nadu Mediation and Conciliation centre and the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy.“We know that sometimes it takes a lifetime for one to get justice, but it is not because the judges in this country are not performing. They are doing much more work when compared to other countries with a national average of 650 cases per judge at the High Court level,” he said.
He said that in some States like those in the North East, the pending cases were lesser than the others like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh that together accounted for almost 80 per cent of pending cases, he said.
“As the population, literacy and prosperity grow, so do the cases coming to court,” he added. “Though the Prime Minister agrees that we need more judges, the PM believes that the State governments must step in,” he said.
“We are not asking for a specific number. Let us sit together and decide on a reasonable number and make it possible for the decided number of judges to be appointed over 10 years,” he said. In the meanwhile, mediation is the best option available.