And how true. The backlog of criminal cases is so great that just at the trial stage, over 1.34 crore cases are waiting trial in lower courts across the country. The backlog in, say, Gujarat as of 1998 was 23,78,975,in Madhya Pradesh 10,61,682, Maharashtra 20,41,894 and Uttar Pradesh 22,51,365. The number pending in different High Courts is even more frightening. Very few politicians and bureaucrats seem accountable.
Governments are looted wholesale.
In December 2000 The Statesman reported that the West Bengal government has not paid the electricity bills for the official residence of the then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu for 24 months between August 1994 and July 1999. The dues amounted to Rs. 3.75 lakhs or an average of about Rs. A CBI official has been quoted as saying that the agency has been investigating over 200 corruption cases against Bihar ministers, government officials and senior bureaucrats allegedly involved in misutilisation or misappropriation of government funds, including central ones, meant for socio-economic development of the state. It is not the politician alone who is guilty of corruption.