NEW DELHI:Even as the country reels under pendency of over three crore cases, the Ministry of Law and Justice has decided to first create proper infrastructure for the judiciary before new appointments are made.
According to the latest data released by the ministry, the high courts are faced with a shortfall of 371 judges. The 24 high courts in the country were functioning with 646 judges against the approved strength of 1,017 as on June 1.
The scenario is even worse in the lower courts, with more than 3,300 posts remaining vacant against a sanctioned strength of 17,715 judges.
While the collegium system of judges appointing judges has been done away with by a new law, the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) has still to begin its work.
The Supreme Court is right now hearing a petition challenging the validity of NJAC; this too has left the issue of pending vacancies in a limbo. According to figures assessed by the Department of Justice, the Allahabad High Court is facing the maximum vacancy of 81 judges.
“In the recent conference of Chief Justices with Chief Ministers, it was decided amicably that no new appointments would be done until and unless proper infrastructure are created for the smooth functioning of the system,” a senior law officer confirmed.
As per the 13th Finance Commission recommendations, judiciary and the state governments have failed to utilise up to 80 per cent of funds allocated for the development of judicial infrastructure and new courtrooms in the last five years across the country.
Though the government had allocated Rs 5,000 crore for court infrastructure development, only Rs 867 crore has been used so far by the states for creation of courtrooms and other judicial infrastructure for which utilisation certificates have been received.
Last year, the Delhi High Court also took note of shortage of courtrooms and lack of infrastructure in district courts which was leading to many positions of judicial officers lying vacant. “It is unfortunate but true that the infrastructure is normally made available after the posts have been sanctioned and not before, resulting in delay in appointments,” the high court observed.
The law ministry official added, “Good infrastructure for the judiciary was a priority for the government, and Rs 9,749 crore had been earmarked for strengthening it under the 14th Finance Commission. We have also requested states not to divert the funds meant for improving judicial infrastructure to other development work.”
Under the 14th Finance Commission, in addition to the unspent funds from the previous grants, the government proposes to create several hundreds of fast-track and family courts, besides providing allocation for creating litigant-friendly facilities such as development of waiting rooms, disabled-friendly infrastructure and witnesses rooms for vulnerable sections of the society.
Court Infrastructure Includes...
■ Courtrooms
■ Record rooms for storing files
■ Waiting areas for litigants
■ Disabled-friendly areas with ramps, etc
■ Houses for judges