Can’t blame it all on us, moans CJI
Sheds tears on mounting litigation arrears
It is not a pretty picture. The sight of the chief justice of India being moved to tears symbolising his helplessness in solving the problem of the mounting arrears of pending litigation. There are three crore cases pending in trial courts, over 38 lakh cases pending in 24 high courts and about 60,000 in the Supreme Court.
But Chief Justice T S Thakur did not accept that only the judiciary was to be blamed for this situation. He lamented the government's "inaction" in raising the number of judges from 21,000 to 40,000 to handle mounting cases, and said: “You cannot shift the entire burden on the judiciary".
This emotional scenario emerged at a conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The fallout being that Modi who was
not scheduled to speak at the event, also addressed the issue. He said:” I can understand his (CJI's) pain as a lot of time has lapsed since 1987. Whatever have been the compulsions, but it is better to be late than never. We will do better in the future. Let us see how to move forward by reducing the burden of the past." The Prime Minister said that if constitutional barriers do not create any problems, then top ministers and senior Supreme Court judges can sit together in a closed room to find a solution to the issue. He also recalled that in one such conference he had attended as the Gujarat Chief Minister, he had flagged the issue of reducing vacation in courts and holding morning and evening courts but during lunch break during that event he was in for trouble as some judges had questioned the idea. In his speech, Thakur had said: "Nothing moves", while recalling a 1987 Law Commission recommendation to increase the number of judges from then 10 judges per 10 lakh people to 50. "Then comes inaction by the government as the increase (in the strength of judges) does not take place,... And therefore, it is not only in the name of a litigant or people languishing in jails but also in the name of development of the country, its progress that I beseech you to rise to the occasion and realise that it is not enough to criticise.You cannot shift the entire burden on the judiciary," he had said. He also spoke of the "tug-of-war" that goes on between the Centre and the states over funding, infrastructure and other issues. The judge to people ratio stands at 15 judges to 10 lakh people which is way less as compared to US, Australia, the UK and Canada. From a munsif to a Supreme Court judge, the average disposal in India is 2,600 cases per annum as compared to 81 cases per annum in the US. Later, addressing a press conference on the day's deliberations, the CJI admitted that being emotional is his "weakness". "One should not be emotional. Justice Kehar (who is likely to be the next CJI) is a strong man. He will not be emotional," he said. He also informed that the Supreme Court collegium will respond next week to government on the revised memorandum of procedure, a document to guide appointment of judges to the apex court and the high courts. He said the document, prepared by the government to enhance transparency in judicial appointments, will be sent back to the Centre next week with the comments of the SC collegium.The collegium consists of CJI and four senior judges of the apex court. If the draft is ratified, it would be put in public domain by the Department of Justice in the Law Ministry. If changes are suggested, then the Law Ministry would have to redraft it.