Question : Functioning of FTCs

(a) whether the Supreme Court has requested the Chief Justices of the High Courts to create Fast Track Courts (FTCs) in the country, if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government is satisfied with the performance of the FTCs with respect to disposal of the cases filed or referred therein during each of the last three years and the current year, if so, the details thereof along with the number of cases filed/referred, disposed of and pending in FTCs during the said period, State/UT-wise;
(c) the number of additional positions of judges created and filled in subordinate judiciary across the country along with the funds provided by the Government for the purpose during the said period; and
(d) the other steps taken by the Government to improve the functioning of FTCs in the country?

ANSWER
MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a): As per information received from the Hon’ble Supreme Court, Hon’ble the then Chief Justice of India had requested the Chief Justices of High Courts vide his letters dated 05.01.2013 and 10.07.2014 to take up the matter with the State Government/UT concerned, with promptitude to increase the number of courts, not only of Judicial Officers, but also of support staff and infrastructure, so that fast tracking of matters relating to offences against women can be taken up and to set up adequate number of Fast Track Courts (FTCs) to deal with cases relating to offences against women, children, differently-abled persons, senior citizens and marginalized sections of society respectively.
(b): Setting up of subordinate courts including FTCs and their monitoring fall within the domain of the State Governments who set up such courts as per their need and resources, in consultation with the respective High Courts. Data in respect of disposal of cases filed and pending therein of the last three years and the current year are not maintained by the Central Government. However, as per information received from the respective High Courts, at present, 727 FTCs are functional across the country and 570224 cases are pending in these FTCs, as on 31.12.2017 (Annexure-I).
(c): The number of sanctioned strength and working strength of Judges in subordinate courts, as on 31.12.2017, is given at Annexure-II.
(d): The 14th Finance Commission (14th FC) endorsed the proposal of the Government to strengthen the judicial system in States which includes establishing 1800 FTCs for a period of five years for cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc. at a cost of Rs.4144 crore and urged the State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided by the Commission in the form of enhanced tax devolution (from 32% to 42%) to meet such requirements.
The Central Government has urged the State Governments to allocate funds for the activities mentioned in the 14th FC recommendations from their State budgets from 2015-16 onwards. The Minister of Law & Justice has also written letters to all the Chief Ministers of States and the Chief Justices of High Courts to implement the resolution of the Chief Ministers/Chief Justices Conference including the recommendations of the 14th FC related to FTCs.

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ANNEXURE-I
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (b) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.6090 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 4TH APRIL, 2018 REGARDING FUNCTIONING OF FTCs.

Name of the States/UTs No of Fast Track Courts functional as on 31.12.2017 No. of Cases Pending in the Fast Track Courts
(As on 31.12.2017)
Andhra Pradesh , Telangana 72 9085
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram 0 0
Bihar 55 22616
Chhattisgarh 21 4292
Delhi 14 6729
Goa 4 4719
Gujarat 0 0
Haryana 0 0
Himachal Pradesh 0 0
Jammu & Kashmir 5 0
Jharkhand 14 2136
Karnataka 0 0
Kerala 0 0
Madhya Pradesh 0 0
Maharashtra 100 105301
Manipur 3 114
Meghalaya 0 0
Odisha 0 0
Punjab 0 0
Puducherry
Rajasthan 0 0
Sikkim 2 13
Tamil Nadu 69 50641
Tripura 3 891
Uttar Pradesh 273 323854
Uttarakhand 4 671
West Bengal 88 39162
Total 727 570224


ANNEXURE-II
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (c) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.6090 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 4TH APRIL, 2018 REGARDING FUNCTIONING OF FTCs
Sanctioned Strength / Working Strength and vacancies in Subordinate Courts as on 31.12.2017
Sl. No Name of States/Uts Sanctioned Strength as on 31.12.2017 Working Strength as on 31.12.2017
1 Andhra Pradesh & Telangana 986 920
2 Arunachal Pradesh 28 17
3 Assam 429 352
4 Bihar 1828 993
5 Chhattisgarh 398 335
6 Goa 55 43
7 Gujarat 1496 1121
8 Haryana 645 496
9 Himachal Pradesh 159 148
10 Jammu & Kashmir 253 224
11 Jharkhand 672 419
12 Karnataka 1303 976
13 Kerala 535 450
14 Madhya Pradesh 2021 1293
15 Maharashtra 2097 1930
16 Manipur 49 40
17 Meghalaya 97 39
18 Mizoram 63 46
19 Nagaland 34 22
20 Orissa 862 656
21 Punjab 674 538
22 Rajasthan 1225 1122
23 Sikkim 23 18
24 Tamil Nadu 1108 908
25 Tripura 107 76
26 Uttar Pradesh 3204 1856
27 Uttarakhand 291 230
28 West Bengal and 956 916
29 A & N Island 11 11
30 Chandigarh 30 30
31 D & N Haveli AND Daman & Diu 7 7
32 Delhi 799 482
33 Lakshadweep 3 2
34 Pondicherry* 26 12
Total 22474 16728