Empowerment of judicial system is need of the hour

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, July 23:

Expressing his concern over the growing pendency of litigations in the courts, the judge of the Supreme Court of India (SCI) Justice Bhushan Gavai said that the judiciary is being burdened with the rise in the number of litigations due to the failure of concerned authorities in resolving the issues at their local level.

“ The common man is coerced to knock on the doors of the courts. He wants justice for a petty issue created due to failure of duties by the local authority and to resolve the case at their level. The growing rush, therefore, is giving rise to the pendency of litigations in different courts. The Central and the State Governments should frame a modern litigation policy to clear this pendency with momentum,” stressed Justice Gavai.

The pendency in litigations is also due to delays in appointments of the judges. Despite forwarding the list from collegium, serving reminders and clearance from the intelligence bureau (IB), the decisions on appointments are not taken for six months to one year, he said.

“In 2002, it was framed that there should be 60 judges for the population of one million citizens. In 2022, however, 20 judges are serving the population of 10 lakhs (one million). The shortage of judges has made it impossible to speed up the task of rendering justice and leading to a rise in the percentage of pendency each year,” explained Justice Gavai.

The Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Justice Dipankar Datta urged the state government to at least allocate one per cent of its budget to empower the judiciary. It will help bring technological reforms, upgrade infrastructure and tackle the pendency with speed. Non-filling of vacant posts of judges is also one of the important reasons for pendency.

Replying to his felicitation, the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court Justice Sambhaji Shinde said,” The lawyers with the help of litigants should strive to dispose of the maximum number of the cases. Every judge strives to clear maximum cases put up before him. The senior lawyers should guide the juniors. The lawyers should make their presence (appear for argument) before the bench of Chief Justice without any hesitation and prove themselves.”

Chairman of Bar Council of India Manankumar Mishra drew attention to more than 400 vacant posts of judges, out of 1108 sanctioned, in 25 High Courts of India. He also highlighted the status of pending cases in different courts. He said, "as of July 1, 2022, there are 72,062 pending cases in the Supreme Court, 59.49 lakhs in different High Courts and crores of them in the Lower Courts."

BCMG chairman Adv Vasanatrao Salunke made a welcome speech, and member of Bar Council of India Adv Jayant Jaibhave made an introductory speech. Adv Chaitanya Dharurkar conducted the proceedings and Adv Rajendra Umap proposed a vote of thanks.

The chief convenor and BCMG member Adv Amol Sawant,

president (HCBA) Adv N L Chaudhari, president (DCBA) Adv Santosh Pathrikar, Adv Apurba Sharma (Bar Council of India, Guwahati) and Adv Suresh Shrimali (Rajasthan Bar Council), members of BCMG and others were present on the dais.