MINISTER OF LAW, JUSTICE AND COMPANY AFFAIRS AND SHIPPING (SHRI ARUN JAITLEY)
(a) to (f): Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 108 DATED 1.3.2001
(a) Yes, Sir.
The Eleventh Law Commission in its 120th Report had,
inter alia recommended that the present strength of 10.5
judges per million population be increased to 50 judges per
million population.
(b) At present, there is a sanctioned strength of about 13
judges per million population.
(c)&(d) According to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges)
Amendment Act, 1986, the sanctioned strength of the Supreme
Court of India is 26 Judges, including the Chief Justice of
India. Thereafter, no proposal has been received from the
Chief Justice of India for increasing the Judge strength of
the Supreme Court of India.
The judge strength in High Courts is reviewed once in
three years. The last such review was held during 1999.
Accordingly, as on February 15, 2001, the revised sanctioned
strength of judges in various Hgh Courts was 647
Judges/Additional Judges.
In so far as the matter relating to subordinate
judiciary is concerned, their judge strength is determined by
the State Governments in consultation with their respective
High Courts.
However, pursuant to the XIth Finance Commission`s
recommendation, an amount of Rs.502.90 crore has been
sanctioned for creation of 1,734 additional courts in the
country to substantially bring down the pendency of cases in
the district and subordinate courts over the next five years.
(e)&(f) Pendency of cases in different courts is arising from
various complex factors. These, inter-alia, include
non-filling up of vacancies of judges, inadequate judge
strength, inadequate infrastructure of buildings, staff and
equipments, increased institution of cases on account of
awareness of the rights on the part of the citizens, enactment
of numerous laws, radical change in the pattern of litigation,
frequent adjournment of cases, rise in population, lawyers`
strike etc as some of the major causes.
Various steps are taken from time to time for
filling-up of vacancies at various levels of the judiciary by
the concerned authorities.
A Centrally Sponsored Scheme relating to development
of infrastructural facilities for the Judiciary i.e.
construction of court buildings and residences of judges,
provision of computers etc., covering the High Courts and the
District/Subordinate Courts is being implemented from 1993-94
under which an amount of Rs. 800.00 crore (approximately) has
been spent so far.
ANNEXE-I
State-wise break-up of additional courts
Sl. Name of the No. of courts
No. State
1. Andhra Pradesh 86
2. Arunachal Pradesh 5
3. Assam 20
4. Bihar 183
5. Chhattisgarh 31
6. Goa 5
7 Gujarat 166
8. Haryana 36
9. Himachal Pradesh 9
10. Jammu & Kashmir 12
11. Jharkhan 89
12. Karnataka 93
13. Kerala 37
14. Madhya Pradesh 85
15. Maharashtra 187
16. Manipur 3
17. Meghalaya 3
18. Mizoram 3
19. Nagaland 3
20. Orissa 72
21. Punjab 29
22. Rajasthan 83
23. Sikkim 3
24. Tamil Nadu 49
25. Tripura 3
26. Uttar Pradesh 242
27. Uttaranchal 45
28. West Bengal 152
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