New Delhi: From 217 lakh pending cases in 2006 to an additional nine lakh cases could have been solved in 2015 if judicial vacancies in the subordinate courts had been brought down to zero, says former information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, who shared a chart from the data available on the Ministry of Law and Justice website.
As the country continues to battle inordinate judicial delays, Gandhi states that only if vacancies in subordinate courts are tackled, pending cases could be brought down to zero, and even an additional amount of cases could be disposed of.
According to the figures, had the vacancy in 2,801 judges’ posts been filled in 2006, 37 lakh cases would not have missed disposal in 2006 and only 217 lakh cases would have been pending. Given the direct relationship between judicial vacancies and balance of pending cases, eventually by 2012, judicial backlogs could have been zero.
Furthermore, 2012 onwards, additional 9 lakh cases could be adjudicated upon.
Another point highlighted with the help of data available from the Supreme Court website and Collegium approval tables, it has been noted that though judicial vacancies arise in court, it’s after a couple of months that the collegium recommendations begin, which results in delay of appointments and a consequential increase in case backlogs.
The data available in the Supreme Court collegium resolution states that from March to July 2016, judicial vacancies arose in the court. But the recommendation for judicial appointment was received from the court almost six months later in February 2017. Supreme Court collegium took another seven months to clear the recommendations, which led to a total delay of 15 to 18 months.
Similarly, the Madras High Court, too, met a similar issue in 2016 and took 16 to 20 months in actual appointment of judges from the date when the vacancies arose. However, Madras HC in 2017 had vacancies from March to June for which recommendations were made earlier in January 2017.
The SC collegium cleared it in October 2017, which led to only a 6-month delay between the date of vacancy and actual appointment.
There are 2,67,73,356 cases pending in various courts of India, according to National Judicial Data Grid statistics, and are rising with each passing day.
The minimum average period to complete any trial in India is six years, which tends to increase if the case is dragged till the Supreme Court. Ideally, the accused gets punished after years of trial and by that time either the victim or the accused dies and eventually the time lapse is such that the punishment served then has no meaning.
But it is not as if the case of judicial backlogs is something which the apex court is not aware of. Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who is in line to be the next Chief Justice of India, while addressing an event had recently said that all we need is a “consistent policy”.
“Indian judiciary must have a consistent policy in matters relating to pendency of cases and batted for appointment of ad hoc judges given the shortage in lower courts,” said the SC judge.
He also blamed the changing priorities of Chief Justices dealing with the issue that dampens judges’ appointment.
“The problem does not lie in the short tenure (of judges). It lies in the change of priorities with change of chief justices. The Indian judiciary must have a consistent policy. Then if you have a policy and if you implement it, then the tenure will not be a matter,” Justice Gogoi said.
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