Backlog of 33.5 million cases can be reduced with sanctioned judge strength: Experts

MUMBAI: A daunting backlog of 33.5 million pending cases across 24 high courts and subordinate judiciary in India can be considerably reduced even if courts work with the full sanctioned judge strength of 23,814, experts concurred on Saturday. Reducing vacancy of judges to zero would be a game-changer, said Shailesh Gandhi, former central information commissioner at a panel discussion on 'Judicial Pendency: Challenges and Solutions'.
The event, organized by Mumbai First and K C College, had as panelists former judges, including ex-Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna, and ex-Bombay HC judges V C Daga, J H Bhatia and Roshan Dalvi, along with leading lawyers, Anil Harish, Firoze Andhyarujina and Sanjay Asher.
There is a 12% vacancy in SC, 32% in HC judges and 21% for district courts. Right now, there are 39 HC complexes, with 4.3 million pending cases and 3,075 district and taluka court complexes, with 29.25 million cases.
Justice Srikrishna said, "I concede selection of judges is a complicated affair.'' Better case management, he said, required "a heart and will". Justice Daga said government, the biggest litigator in courts, was reluctant to appoint more judges. "There should be appointment on merit... every political party wants an independent judiciary when they are in Opposition,'' he said.
A key solution would be to adapt to alternate dispute redressal, such as mediation. "A compromise now is better than a better judgment later,'' said Justice Daga. Harish, quoting from a report that 4,000 additional court rooms would be needed if courts work at capacity, said a budget of Rs 2,000 crore would be needed. "It is not a large sum in context of things,'' he said and the others agreed. The need was to ensure speedy justice, he said.