NEW DELHI: The judiciary, which is reeling under the pendency of 3.2 crore cases across the country, saw a ray of hope with Chief Justice of India T S Thakur suggesting creation of more posts on the basis of judge-cases ratio rather than the present policy of judge-population ratio.
As a result of the judge-population policy, the number of posts remains the same even as the number of cases increases.
The Ministry of Law and Justice has been working to find out the number of cases a judge can handle. It is also looking at the option to sanction more posts of judges if the number of cases increases.
On an average, a judge should handle 1,500 to 3,500 cases per month, and if the number of cases goes up, a new post can be sanctioned.
“We have one-tenth of judges as compared with that of the US. A judge would be dealing with three to five cases a day in the US, whereas a judge has to hear 150 cases a day in India. Also, the judge has to write five to six lines for every case, which is roughly 1,000 lines a day. When a judgment has to be delivered, he has to work much more,” a law ministry official said. “On an average, three to five years is a reasonable period to dispose of a case when you look at the judge-population ratio and the lack of infrastructure in India.”
Although the number of judges appointed in the last three decades increased six-fold, the total number of cases freshly filed went up by 12-fold during the same time. It is estimated that the number of cases reaching courts would be around 15 crore in the next three decades, which in turn require 75,000 judges to hear.