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By Dr. Sanjay Chaturvedi, Editor

As per the information made available by the High Courts, as on 28.02.2022 there are 20,814 Court Halls and 18,319 Residential Units available for Judicial Officers/Judges in the country against the working strength of 19,350 Judges/Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts and sanctioned strength of 24,520 as on 28.02.2022. There is presently a vacancy of 5,170 Judicial Officers. As the available infrastructure also includes court halls leased from Centre/ States and rented buildings, the aim is to shift all the court halls to judiciary owned buildings and to match the Judicial Infrastructure with sanctioned strength of judges.

The primary responsibility of development of infrastructure facilities for judiciary rests with the State Governments. To augment the resources of the State Governments, the Union Government has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary by providing financial assistance to State Governments / UTs in the prescribed fund sharing pattern between Centre and States. The Scheme is being implemented since      1993-94. It covers the construction of court buildings and residential accommodations for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Judiciary. As on date a sum of Rs. 8758.71 crore has been released under the Scheme so far since its inception, out of which Rs. 5314.40 crore (60.68 %) has been released since 2014-15.  The Scheme has been extended from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with a budgetary outlay of Rs. 9000 crore including Central share of Rs. 5307.00 crore. Besides the construction of Court Halls and Residential Quarters, the Scheme now also covers the construction of Lawyers’ Halls, Digital Computer Rooms and Toilet Complexes in the District and Subordinate Courts.

The State-wise statement of the ratio of the cases currently pending in the court to the total number of judges is at Annexure-I.

The State-wise detail of total vacancies of Judges at present is at Annexure-II.

The Registry of Supreme Court of India has compiled data on the status of judicial infrastructure and court amenities.  A proposal has been received from Chief Justice of India for setting up of National Judicial Infrastructure Authority of India (NJIAI) for arrangement of adequate infrastructure for courts, as per which there will be a Governing Body with Chief Justice of India as Patron-in-Chief. The other salient features of the proposal are that NJIAI will act as a Central body in laying down the road map for planning, creation, development, maintenance and management of functional infrastructure for the Indian Court System, besides identical structures under all the High Courts. The proposal has been sent to the various State Governments/UTs, as they constitute an important stakeholder, for their views on the contours of the proposal to enable taking a considered view on the matter.

Annexure –I

ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL JUDICIAL INFRASTRUCTURE (As on 09.03.2022)

Sl. No. States & UTs Sanctioned Strength of Judges/Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts Working Strength of Judges/Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts Total pendency of District and Subordinate Courts Ratio of Pending Cases to Judges /Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts
1 Andaman and Nicobar 0 13 * *
2 Andhra Pradesh 607 487 805572 1654.15
3 Arunachal Pradesh 41 32 * *
4 Assam 467 436 436061 1000.14
5 Bihar 1954 1389 3391187 2441.46
6 Chandigarh 30 30 73262 2442.07
7 Chhattisgarh 482 407 398480 979.07
8 D & N Haveli 3 2 3706 1853.00
9 Daman & Diu 4 4 2902 725.50
10 Delhi 884 686 1123292 1637.45
11 Goa 50 40 57603 1440.08
12 Gujarat 1523 1176 1996428 1697.64
13 Haryana 772 477 1332388 2793.27
14 Himachal Pradesh 175 162 472766 2918.31
15 Jammu and Kashmir 300 240 253828 1057.62
16 Jharkhand 675 517 507853 982.31
17 Karnataka 1364 1085 2022290 1863.86
18 Kerala 569 487 1955155 4014.69
19 Ladakh 17 9 957 106.33
20 Lakshadweep 3 3 * *
21 Madhya Pradesh 2021 1550 1916155 1236.23
22 Maharashtra 2190 1940 4949069 2551.07
23 Manipur 59 46 12706 276.22
24 Meghalaya 97 49 17005 347.04
25 Mizoram 65 41 6114 149.12
26 Nagaland 34 24 2763 115.13
27 Odisha 977 781 1546864 1980.62
28 Puducherry 26 11 34668 3151.64
29 Punjab 692 606 972103 1604.13
30 Rajasthan 1549 1272 2124411 1670.13
31 Sikkim 28 20 1920 96.00
32 Tamil Nadu 1319 1080 1411371 1306.83
33 Telangana 474 424 838703 1978.07
34 Tripura 122 106 36374 343.15
35 Uttar Pradesh 3634 2528 10254226 4056.26
36 Uttarakhand 299 272 320215 1177.26
37 West Bengal 1014 918 2648005 2884.54

 

Source: – National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and MIS Portal of DoJ.

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