ANSWER
MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (e) of LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. †*211FOR ANSWER ON 26TH DECEMBER, 2018.
1. Judge-population ratio:
1.1 In the case of Imtiyaz Ahmed versus State of Uttar Pradesh and others, the Supreme Court had asked the Law Commission of India to evolve a method for scientific assessment of the number of additional courts required to clear the backlog of cases. In 245th report (2014), the Law Commission observed that filing of cases per capita varies substantially across geographic units as filings are associated with economic and social conditions of the population. As such the Law Commission did not consider the judge population ratio to be a scientific criterion for determining the adequacy of the judge strength in the country. The Law Commission found that in the absence of complete and scientific approach to data collection across various High Courts in the country, the “Rate of Disposal” method, to calculate the number of additional judges required to clear the backlog of cases as well as to ensure that new backlog is not created, is more pragmatic and useful.
1.2 In August 2014, the Supreme Court asked the National Court Management System Committee (NCMS Committee) to examine the recommendations made by the Law Commission and to furnish its recommendations in this regard. NCMS Committee submitted its report to the Supreme Court in March, 2016. The report, inter-alia, observes that in the long term, the judge strength of the subordinate courts will have to be assessed by a scientific method to determine the total number of “Judicial Hours” required for disposing of the case load of each court. In the interim, the Committee has proposed a “weighted” disposal approach i.e. disposal weighted by the nature and complexity of cases in local conditions.
1.3 As per the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in its Order dated 02.01.2017, the Department of Justice has forwarded a copy of interim report of the NCMS Committee to all the State Governments and High Courts to enable them to take follow up action to determine the required Strength of district and subordinate judiciary.
2. Steps taken by the Government to ensure effective functioning of judicial system for the quick disposal of pending cases:
The Government is fully committed to speedy disposal of cases. The Government has taken several initiatives to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary. The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms established by the Government has adopted a coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration through various strategic initiatives, including improving infrastructure for courts, leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for better justice delivery, and filling up of vacant positions of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court. The major achievements during the last four years under various initiatives to make the functioning of subordinate judiciary more efficient are as follows:
(i) Improving infrastructure for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts: As on date, Rs.6,623.87 crores have been released since the inception of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in 1993-94. Out of this, 3,179.57 crores (which are 48% of the total amount released till date) have been released to the States and UTs since April, 2014. The number of court halls has increased from 15,818 as on 30.06.2014 to 18,731 as on date and number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 16,539 as on date under this scheme. In addition, 2,906 court halls and 1,754 residential units are under construction. The Central Government has approved continuation of the Scheme beyond the 12th Five Year Plan period i.e. from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020 with an estimated additional outlay of Rs.3,320 crore.
(ii) Leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for improved justice delivery: Number of computerised District & Subordinate courts has increased from 13,672 to 16,755 registering an increase of 3,083 during 2014 to 2018. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) provides citizens with online information about case filings, case status and electronic copies of orders and judgments from district and subordinate courts that have already been computerized. Information regarding 10.80 crore cases including more than three crore pending cases and more than 7.91 crore orders / judgments are available on this portal. eCourts services such as details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders & final judgments are available to litigants and advocates through eCourts web portal, Judicial Service Centres (JSC) in all computerised courts, eCourts Mobile App, email service, SMS push & pull services. eCourts Project has been consistently amongst the top 5 Mission Mode Projects of country.
(iii) Filling up of vacant positions in Supreme Court, High Courts and judicial officers in District and Subordinate Courts: During May 2014 – November 2018, 25 Judges were appointed in Supreme Court; 423 new Judges were appointed and 362 Additional Judges were made Permanent in the High Courts. Sanctioned strength of Judges of High Courts has been increased from 906 in May, 2014 to 1079 currently. Sanctioned and working strength of Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts has been increased as follows:
As on Sanctioned Strength Working Strength
31.12.2013 19,518 15,115
30.09.2018 22,644 17,509
Minister of Law & Justice vide letter dated 14th August, 2018 has written to the Chief Justices of High Courts and Chief Ministers of States to monitor the status of vacancies in the district and subordinate courts regularly and to ensure proper coordination with the State Public Service Commission so that the examination and the interviews are conducted in accordance with the time schedule prescribed by the Supreme Court in the Malik Mazhar Sultan case.
(iv) Reduction in Pendency through / follow up by Arrears Committees: Further, in pursuance of resolution passed in Chief Justices’ Conference held in April, 2015, Arrears Committees have been set up in 24 High Courts to clear cases pending for more than five years. Arrears Committees have been set up under District Judges too. Arrears Committee has been constituted in the Supreme Court to formulate steps to reduce pendency of cases in High Courts and District Courts.
(v) Nyaya Mitra Scheme: In order to reduce cases pending in courts for over 10 years, the Government launched the Nyaya Mitra Scheme in April 2017. Under the Scheme, retired judicial officers are engaged and designated as ‘Nyaya Mitra’ to facilitate expeditious disposal of the cases pending over 10 years. In the first Phase, 15 Nyaya Mitra have been engaged in 15 Districts of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura.
(vi) Emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018 has been enacted on 20th August, 2018 whereby mandatory pre-Institution mediation mechanism has been introduced for settlement of commercial disputes. Amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2015 is done to expedite the speedy resolution of disputes by prescribing timelines. The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018 passed by the Lok Sabha on 10.08.2018 seeks to set up Arbitration Council of India (ACI) to inter-alia grade arbitral institutions, accredit arbitrators and impart training and award certificate in the ADR field.
(vii) Initiatives to Fast Track Special Type of Cases: The Fourteenth Finance Commission endorsed the proposal of the Government to strengthen the judicial system in States which included, inter-alia, establishing Fast Track Courts for cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc., and urged the State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided in the form of enhanced tax devolution form 32% to 42% to meet such requirements. At present, 708 such Fast Track Courts are functioning across the country. To fast track criminal cases involving elected MPs / MLAs, twelve (12) Special Courts have been set up in eleven (11) States (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and NCT of Delhi) and proportionate funds have been released to these States by the Government.
(viii) A series of meetings were held with Registrars General of all High Courts and Law Secretaries of all State Governments / UTs through Video Conferencing in the month of January, 2018, July, 2018 and November, 2018 to follow up on filling up posts of Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts. The Department of Justice has hosted a web-portal on its website for reporting and monitoring of sanctioned and working strength, and vacancies of Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts on monthly basis.
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