THE backbreaking backlog of cases in courts has become a bane to the justice delivery system. The Indian judiciary is facing an ever-increasing caseload and a large number of vacancies across all levels. Presently, about 24% of cases are decided within a year and 46% after three years. This has a cascading effect and is seriously impacting justice dispensation.
The pendency data is also daunting. According to statistics from the National Judicial Data Grid and the Supreme Court, there are more than 69,000 cases pending in the apex court, 58.5 lakh cases in various High Courts and 3.9 crore cases in district and subordinate courts.
Some time back, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana had cryptically remarked: “The often-quoted statistic that pendency in Indian Courts has reached 45 million cases, which is perceived as the inability of the Indian judiciary to cope with the caseload is an overstatement and an uncharitable analysis." Clearly, there is more to this than meets the eye and there are many factors which fuel pendency.
The rise in pendency has often been ascribed to the fact that there are not enough judges. In its 120th report of 1987, the Law Commission stated that 50 judges are required per 10 lakh of population. Currently, there are only 17 judges. If the 50 target is accepted, this works out to an additional 98,000 judges. If these vacancies in courts are filled, pendency could be curtailed and justice delivery would be efficient.
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