People associate Indian courts with ‘abnormal delay’ in disposal of cases, ‘atrocious lawyers’ and ‘un-understanding’ judges. But they rarely understand the burden the judges carry on their shoulders, said Justice Ramasubramanian, Judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Speaking at an interactive session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry Young Indians (Hyderabad Chapter) on ‘Legal System in India: Boon or Burden’, here on Tuesday, Justice Ramasubramanian spoke at length on the enormous constraints with which the Indian judiciary worked and yet turned out an impressive disposal rate.
Citing data gathered till December 31, 2014 for preparing a vision statement for the judiciary for 2015, Justice Ramasubramanian said that Indian judiciary right from the Supreme Court, and 24 High Courts, operated with the vacancy position of judges varying from 20 per cent to 60 per cent compared to their sanctioned strength.
In SC, only 28 judges were in place, in AP and Telangana, out of combined strength of 61, only 27 judges were functioning. In the subordinate courts, out of total sanctioned judges of 19,518, the working strength was only 15, 114 as on December 31, 2014. In India there was one judge for 61,865 people while in the western countries there were 140 judges for one million population.
“ Every High Court has 90 to 140 per cent of disposal rate compared to the number of cases instituted. The problem is with the old ‘stock’ which we are not able to dispose,” he quipped. In spite of inordinate delays people still reposed faith in judiciary, he said.
If majority of litigants wanted to delay disposal of their cases, no force could make the courts function efficiently, he said. Justice Challa Kodandaram of the High Court of AP and Telangana said bulk of cases filed in the courts was between citizens and the Government.
If people made the government responsive, made officers accountable, and demanded implementation of citizens charter, the burden on courts would come down.