Countering the Chief Justice’s constant refrain about lack of judicial infrastructure and manpower as the reason for huge pendency in Trial Courts, the Central Govt on Tuesday told the Apex Court that existing infrastructure is underutilised & nearly 2,000 judicial officers were engaged by the HC's in non-judicial work.
Presenting a status note on the perceived ailments impeding speedy justice, additional solicitor general K M Nataraj told a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud & Surya Kant that the working strength of judicial officers has increased from 15,000-odd to over 19,000.
He said that “The main reason for worry is that nearly 2,000 judicial officers are engaged in non-judicial work. They should be reverted to judicial work".
Amicus curiae V D Makhija also informed the Court that the centrally sponsored scheme promises Rs 9,000 crore for the improvement of judicial infrastructure & residences for judicial officers. Though the scheme has been extended to 2026, there appears to be massive underutilisation of central funds meant for judicial infrastructure, with only Rs 433 crore of the Rs 700 crore allocated so far, she said.
Nataraj also said that the judicial infrastructure is underutilised & the residential quarters were more than the number of judicial officers. But, the pendency continues to hover above the Rs 4 crore mark for nearly two years, he said.
The bench asked the Registrar's General of HC's to respond to the Centre’s claim about the underutilisation of judicial infrastructure & diversion of judicial manpower to non-judicial work within four weeks. It also asked the HCs to specify the working strength of judicial officers in their respective states.
The Supreme Court asked the Law Secretaries of States to give details of the central funds received since the financial year 2017-18 till 2021-22 & the amount spent by the states on the judiciary from the central grants in each of the last 4 years.
The Centre informed the Supreme Court that the sanctioned strength of judicial officers in 2014 was 19,508, while the working strength was 15,115. In 2022, the sanctioned strength has increased to 24,485 & working strength to 19,292, leaving over 5,000 vacancies. With 2,000 judicial officers engaged in non-judicial work, there are only about 17,000 judicial officers manning the Courts.
Before adjourning the matter, Justices Chandrachud & Kant told the Centre that judicial officers had to be engaged in HCs & various projects as the concept of ‘court-managers’ had failed miserably.
Source Link
Social media is bold.
Social media is young.
Social media raises questions.
Social media is not satisfied with an answer.
Social media looks at the big picture.
Social media is interested in every detail.
social media is curious.
Social media is free.
Social media is irreplaceable.
But never irrelevant.
Social media is you.
(With input from news agency language)
If you like this story, share it with a friend!
We are a non-profit organization. Help us financially to keep our journalism free from government and corporate pressure
0 Comments