Continuing to express his concern over the governments’ inaction in improving the judge-population ratio in the country, Chief Justice of India T. S. Thakur on Sunday said access to justice was a fundamental right and the governments could not afford to deny the people their fundamental rights.
After an emotional outburst over the problem of ‘shortage of judges’ in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a conference in New Delhi last month, the CJI once again raised the issue while addressing a large gathering of legal luminaries here on the occasion of centennial celebrations of circuit bench of High Court.
“While we [judiciary] remain keen to ensure that judges’ appointments are made quickly, the machinery involved with the appointment of judges continues to grind very slowly,” Justice Thakur alleged saying around 170 proposals for appointment of High Court judges were currently pending with the government.
This matter was brought to the notice of the Prime Minister recently with a request to make appointments quickly, Justice Thakur said. people could not be denied justice. “Access to justice is a fundamental right and the government cannot afford to deny the people their fundamental rights,” he said.
Shortage of judges was one of the formidable challenges the judiciary was facing, the CJI said disclosing that out of some 900 sanctioned posts of judges in different High Courts, there were over 450 vacancies, which needed to be filled immediately.
