(a) the details of the civil and criminal cases pending at various levels in the judiciary, State and district-wise;
(b) the steps taken / being taken to address the high pendency of cases;
(c) the details of the vacancies of judges at various levels in the judiciary;
(d) the steps being taken to fill up these vacancies; and
(e) the details of any other initiative taken by the Government to provide speedy justice to the citizens?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)
(a): The data on pendency of cases is maintained by Supreme Court and High Courts. As per information made available by the Supreme Court of India 50,826 civil cases and 10,874 criminal cases were pending in Supreme Court of India as on 23.11.2016. The details of pendency of civil and criminal cases in each of the High Courts and District / Subordinate Courts as on 31.03.2016 are given in the Statements at Annexure – I and Annexure – II respectively.
(b): Disposal of cases in courts is within the domain of judiciary. The Government has adopted a co-ordinated approach to assist judiciary for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial systems, which, inter-alia, involves better infrastructure for courts including computerisation, increase in strength of judicial officers / judges, policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to excessive litigation and emphasis on human resource development.
(c): The sanctioned strength of judges in the Supreme Court is 31 and 8 posts of judges are vacant as on 01.02.2017. The sanctioned strength of judges in the High Courts is 1079 in January, 2017. 433 posts of judges in the High Courts are vacant as on 01.02.2017 which includes 173 newly created posts. The details of present strength and vacancy position of Judges in various High Courts are given at Annexure – III. The Appointment of Judges and Judicial Officers in the District and Subordinate Courts falls within the domain of the High Courts and State Governments concerned.
(d) : Filling up of the vacancies in the High Courts is a continuous process, as it requires consultation and approval from various Constitutional Authorities. While every effort is made to fill up the existing vacancies expeditiously, vacancies do keep on arising on account of retirement, resignation or elevation of Judges and increase in Judge strength. In view of the large number of vacancies and the fact that the process of supplementing the existing Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for improvement in the “Collegium System” as per Supreme Court Order dated 16.12.2015 was likely to take some time, on the initiative of Government, the matter was taken up with the Supreme Court and the process of appointment of judges has been resumed. During the year 2016, 126 fresh appointment of Judges in High Courts and 131 Additional Judges have been made permanent, which is the highest number of appointments made in the last 26 years. In addition, the tenure of 22 Additional Judges of High Courts was also extended. 4 Judges have also been appointed in Supreme Court in 2016. In 2017 (up to 31.01.2017), 4 fresh appointments of Judges have also been made in High Court. The subject matter relating to filling up of vacancies in the District and Subordinate Courts falls within the domain of the High Courts and the State Governments concerned. The Central Government has no role in appointment of Subordinate Judiciary.
(e): The 14th Finance Commission has endorsed the proposal to strengthen the judicial system in States which includes, inter-alia, establishing 1800 Fast Track Courts( FTCs) for a period of five years for cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children, disabled and litigants affected with HIV AIDS and other terminal ailments; and civil disputes involving land acquisition and property/rent disputes pending for more than five years at a cost of Rs.4,144 crore. The 14th Finance Commission has urged State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided by the Commission in the tax devolution to meet such requirements.
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Annexure - I
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1124 FOR ANSWER ON 08TH FEBRUARY, 2017.
Number of Civil and Criminal cases Pending in High Courts as on 31.03.2016
S. No. Name of the High Court Civil cases Criminal cases
1 Allahabad 554626 358412
2 Andhra Pradesh 234612 38359
3 Bombay 202893 47995
4 Calcutta 181385 39826
5 Delhi 46739 16350
6 Gujarat 51856 33175
7 Gauhati 22081 4932
8 Himachal Pradesh 26314 5603
9 Jammu &Kashmir 52860 4841
10 Karnataka 221857 20661
11 Kerala 122406 35604
12 Madras 255308 35515
13 Madhya Pradesh 175326 103176
14 Orissa 128940 40280
15 Patna 79334 49017
16 Punjab & Haryana 202058 83098
17 Rajasthan 184694 63797
18 Sikkim 83 45
19 Uttarakhand 19453 8268
20 Chhattisgarh 31773 19327
21 Jharkhand 42641 38853
22 Tripura 2342 505
23 Manipur 3123 126
24 Meghalaya 568 39
Total 2843272 1047804
Source: Court News, January – March, 2016, published by Supreme Court of India.
Annexure - II
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1124 FOR ANSWER ON 08TH FEBRUARY, 2017.
Number of Civil and Criminal cases Pending in District and Subordinate Courts as on 31.03.2016
S.No. Name of State/UTs Civil cases Criminal cases
1. Andhra Pradesh & Telangana 492248 536989
2. Arunachal Pradesh 1630 8014
3. Assam 68240 185401
4. Bihar 337642 1748622
5. Chhattisgarh 64562 215223
6. Goa 24403 16050
7. Gujarat 656336 1473180
8. Haryana 234223 296419
9. Himachal Pradesh 96683 122735
10. Jammu & Kashmir 47419 88676
11. Jharkhand 64997 263525
12. Karnataka 683139 607345
13. Kerala 429061 973475
14. Madhya Pradesh 272399 936261
15. Maharashtra 1097351 1997420
16. Manipur 3732 3406
17. Meghalaya 3359 10732
18. Mizoram 2232 2533
19. Nagaland 1883 2397
20. Orissa 267479 829248
21. Punjab 245443 268265
22. Rajasthan 479662 1036667
23. Sikkim 400 933
24. Tamil Nadu 649860 431916
25. Tripura 9762 145645
26. Uttar Pradesh 1491145 4245179
27. Uttarakhand 31047 142392
28. West Bengal 566216 2089506
29. A & N Island 3286 5762
30. Chandigarh 15449 22330
31. Daman & Diu 963 753
32. D & N Haveli 1549 2399
33. Delhi 161181 411829
34. Lakshadweep 140 215
35. Pondicherry 13805 12550
Total 8518926 19133992
Source: Court News, January – March, 2016, published by Supreme Court of India.
Annexure-III
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1124 FOR ANSWER ON 08TH FEBRUARY, 2017.
Statement showing the Approved Strength, Working Strength and Vacancies of Judges in the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts.
Sl. No. Name of the Court Approved Strength Working Strength Vacancies as per Approved Strength
A. Supreme Court of India 31 23 08
B. High Court Pmt. Addl Total Pmt. Addl Total Pmt. Addl Total
1 Allahabad 76 84 160 71 12 83 05 72 77
2 High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad 46 15 61 27 0 27 19 15 34
3 Bombay 71 23 94 56 06 62 15 17 32
4 Calcutta 54 18 72 37 01 38 17 17 34
5 Chhattisgarh 17 05 22 08 03 11 09 02 11
6 Delhi 45 15 60 38 0 38 07 15 22
7 Gauhati 18 06 24 07 10 17 11 -04 07
8 Gujarat 39 13 52 25 06 31 14 07 21
9 Himachal Pradesh 10 03 13 07 02 09 03 01 04
10 Jammu & Kashmir 13 04 17 09 0 09 04 04 08
11 Jharkhand 19 06 25 08 05 13 11 01 12
12 Karnataka 47 15 62 24 06 30 23 09 32
13 Kerala 35 12 47 25 12 37 10 0 10
14 Madhya Pradesh 40 13 53 18 19 37 22 -06 16
15 Madras 56 19 75 54 03 57 02 16 18
16 Manipur 04 01 05 03 0 03 01 01 02
17 Meghalaya 03 01 04 03 0 03 0 01 01
18 Orissa 20 07 27 15 03 18 05 04 09
19 Patna 40 13 53 24 06 30 16 07 23
20 Punjab & Haryana 64 21 85 45 02 47 19 19 38
21 Rajasthan 38 12 50 23 11 34 15 01 16
22 Sikkim 03 0 03 02 0 02 01 0 01
23 Tripura 04 0 04 03 0 03 01 0 01
24 Uttarakhand 09 02 11 07 0 07 02 02 04
Total 771
308
1079
539
107
646
232
201
433*
(As on 01.02.2017)
*Vacancies include 173 newly created posts of Judges from 01.07.2014 to 10.05.2016.