New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday promised to look into the long-pending demand of the judiciary regarding an increase in the number of judges to reduce the burden of increasing cases. He said whatever the compulsions of the past, the matter needs to be looked into.
Mr Modi’s assurance came after Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur grew emotional in his presence while lamenting government “inaction” in raising the number of judges from 21,000 to 40,000 to handle mounting cases, saying, “You cannot shift the entire burden on the judiciary.”
“Nothing moves,” an unusually emotional CJI Thakur said, recalling a 1987 Law Commission recommendation to increase the number of judges from the 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,” he said in a choked voice while addressing the inaugural session of the Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts. “...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,” the CJI, who was seen wiping his eyes on three occasions, said as the Prime Minister heard him in rapt attention.
Mr Modi, who was not scheduled to speak as per the programme circulated by the law ministry, said, “I can understand his (CJI’s) pain as a lot of time has lapsed since 1987. Whatever have been the compulsions, but it’s 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 PM said 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.
The PM also recalled that at one such conference he had attended as the Gujarat CM, he had flagged the issue of reducing vacations 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.
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.
In his address, the CJI said that following the Law Commission’s recommendation, the Supreme Court in 2002 had also supported increasing the strength of the judiciary. A Parliamentary Department Related Standing Committee on Law then headed by Mr Pranab Mukherjee had also recommended taking the judge-to-people ratio to 50 from 10.
The CJI also spoke of the “tug of war” that goes on between the Centre and the states over funding, infrastructure and other issues. As of today, the judge-to-people ratio stands at 15 judges to 10 lakh people, which is way lower than in the US, Australia, UK and Canada.
Referring to the pressures Indian judges face, CJI Thakur said that 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.
