A petition was filed in the Supreme Court, seeking direction for the Centre and State Governments to take appropriate steps to double the number of judges in the High Courts and Sub-Ordinate Courts.
The PIL urged the Supreme Court for implementation of Judicial Charter in all the Courts to decide the cases within three years and to breakeven and dispose of the backlog by 2023.
The plea has been filed in the Supreme Court through Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, “Proper implementation of the judicial charter to decide the cases, including cases pending before Tehsildar, SDM, ADM, CO, SOC, and DDC, within three years in the spirit of the resolution dated October 25, 2009.”
It further stated,
“Alternatively, being the custodian of the Constitution and protector of fundamental rights, the Court may be pleased to direct the Centre and States to implement the. Recommendations of Law Commission Report no. 245 and take other apposite steps in order to breakeven and dispose of the backlog in a three-year time frame.”
The cause of action accrued on October 25’ 2009 and continues when the centre promised to reduce the pendency of cases from 15 years to three years but the centre did nothing to implement the recommendations proposed by the Law Commission of India in Report no. 114 (an alternative forum for the resolution of disputes), Report no. 116 (formation of Indian Judicial Service), Report no. 221 (need for speedy justice), Report no. 230 (reform in the judiciary), Report no. 45 (arrears and backlog), as per the petition.
It further said that the number of Judges per million populations is less than 20. The figure stood at 19.78 I 2018, 17.48 in 2014, and 14.7 in 2002.
These numbers show how the Indian Judiciary is suffering due to low manpower.
The petition also stated that
“Right to speedy justice is a fundamental right implicit in the guarantee of life and personal liberty and is an integral part of article 21. However, the Centre and States have deliberately neglected the importance of speedy justice. They have not provided required judicial infrastructure to clear the huge backlog.”
Lakhs of cases are pending before Tehsildar, SDM, ADM, CO, SOC, DDC for over 10 years on settled questions of Law. In High Courts, some 5million cases are pending. Out of them, around 10 lakh cases are pending for over 10 years and 2 lakh for more than 20 years, and around 45,000 for over three decades.
The plea further added,
“The gigantic pendency of cases and deliberate inordinate delays are diminishing the faith of people in the judiciary. Not only this, it is the root cause of increasing criminalization. People are taking law in their hands because they are losing faith in the judiciary.”
These numbers suggest that our country’s judicial system is slowing down day by day and immediate action is the need for the speedy disposal of cases.
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