ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS
(SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)
(a) & (b) : It is the primary responsibility of the State Governments to provide Judicial Infrastructure / Court Rooms for High Courts and District / Subordinate Courts. The Union Government has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in order to augment the resources of State Governments, in association with the States / UT Governments. The scheme is being implemented since 1993-94. It covers the construction of court halls and court complexes and residential accommodations of judicial officers of District and Subordinate Judiciary. As on date, Rs. 6,623 crore have been released since the inception of the Scheme in 1993-94. Out of this, Rs. 3,179 crore (48%) have been released to the States and UTs since April, 2014. 18,731 court halls and 16,539 residential accommodations have been made available for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts under this scheme as on date against the working strength of 17,509 Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts of the country. In addition, 2,906 court halls and 1,754 residential units are under construction.
The Government has been implementing the e-Courts Mission Mode Project for Information and Communication Technology enablement of district and subordinate courts, across the country in association with the Hon''ble Supreme Court of India. The steps being taken by the Government to promote the use of technology in the working of the courts are as under:
(i) The eCourts Mission Mode Project Phase-I was implemented during 2011 - 2015. At the end of Phase-I, out of the total target of computerisation of 14,249 district and subordinate courts, sites for all 14,249 courts (100%) were made ready for computerisation, out of which LAN was installed at 13,643 courts, hardware was provided in 13,436 courts and software was installed in 13,672 courts. Laptops were provided to 14,309 judicial officers and change management exercise was completed in all the High Courts. Over 14,000 Judicial Officers were trained in the use of UBUNTU-Linux Operating System and more than 4,000 court staff have been trained as System Administrators in Case Information System (CIS). Video Conferencing facility was operationalised between 488 court complexes and 342 corresponding jails.
(ii) The eCourts Mission Mode Project Phase-II is being implemented for a period of four years (2015-19) or until the project is completed, whichever is later. Against the financial outlay of Rs.1,670 crores in the second phase, Rs.931.31 crores have been released to High Courts and Rs.616.45 crore have been utilised by the High Courts.
(iii) The target set out under the project is 20,000 courts. Out of that 14,249 courts have been covered under the first phase.
(iv) Computerisation of 16,845 district and subordinate courts has been completed, through provisioning of computer hardware, Local Area Network (LAN), and installation of standard application software in district and subordinate courts.
(v) During the Phase II, till date, 164.11 crore electronic transactions have been recorded for eCourts through eTaal portal. The eCourts transactions have thus emerged as one of the top most accessed services of the Government of India.
( c ) : Court-wise details of sanctioned strength, working strength and vacancies of Judges / Judicial Officers are as below:
Court Sanctioned Strength Working Strength Vacancies
Supreme Court 31 27 4
High Courts 1,079 692 387
District and Subordinate Courts 22,644 17,509 5,135
Filling up of vacancies in the High Courts is a continuous and collaborative process, between the Executive and the Judiciary. It requires consultation and approval from various Constitutional Authorities. Initiation of proposals for appointment of Judges in the High Courts vests with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court. While every effort is made to fill up the existing vacancies expeditiously, vacancies in High Courts keep on arising on account of retirement, resignation or elevation of Judges (to the Supreme Court) and also due to increase in the strength of Judges.
As per the Constitutional framework, the selection and appointment of judges in subordinate courts is the responsibility of the High Courts and State Governments concerned. In so far as recruitment of judicial officers in the States is concerned, in certain States recruitment is done by the High Courts, whereas in other States, the recruitment is done by High Courts in consultation with State Public Service Commission.
During the Chief Justice’s Conference held in 2016 it was, inter-alia, resolved that the Chief Justices shall take effective steps in coordination with the State Governments to ensure an increase in the cadre strength of the District and Subordinate Courts commensurate with the needs of their states in compliance with the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Brij Mohan Lal versus Union of India, and will ensure compliance with the time schedule and directions laid down in the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Malik Mazhar Sultan case (2006). It was also resolved that the Chief Justices shall, in particular, ensure that the Selection and Appointment Committees in the High Courts periodically monitor the process of filling up of vacancies in the District and Subordinate Courts.
In September, 2016, Union Minister of Law & Justice wrote to the Chief Ministers of States and the Chief Justices of High Courts to enhance the cadre strength of the District and Subordinate Courts and provide physical infrastructure to the State judiciary. The same was reiterated in May, 2017. In August, 2018, in the context of increasing pendency of cases, the Union Minister of Law & Justice has written to Chief Justices of all the High Courts to monitor the status of the vacancies regularly and to ensure proper coordination with the State Public Service Commission to fill up vacant posts as per time schedule prescribed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the Malik Mazhar Sultan case. The filling up of vacancies is also being monitored by the Supreme Court in a suo-motu writ petition (civil) no. 2 of 2018.
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 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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