Lok Sabha Question No. 643 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Village and Family Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: M. B. RAJESH

## 643. SHRI M. B. RAJESH:

## Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  the  total  number of Village Courts, Lower Courts, Family Courts, tribunals functioning in the country at present, State-wise;
- (b) the funds allocated to the States in this regard during the last three years, Statewise; and
- (c)  the  total  estimated  number  of  courts  required  to  be  constituted  for  speedy disposal of pending cases in the country?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a):  The  District  and  Subordinate  Courts  including  Village  Courts,  Lower  Courts,  Family Courts etc .  are  set  up  by  the  State  Governments  in  consultation  with  concerned  High Courts.  The State / UT-wise details of District and Subordinate Courts as available on the National  Judicial  Data  Grid  (NJDG)  are  given  in  the  Statement  at Annexure  -  I .    The details of Gram Nyayalayas notified and operationalised by State Governments are given in the Statement at Annexure - II .    The details of  functional Family Courts, State-wise, are given in the Statement at Annexure - III .  The details of 731 Fast Track Courts for trial of cases  of heinous  crimes,  involving senior citizens, women,  children,  physically challenged and persons affected with terminal ailments etc., functioning in various States are given in the Statement at Annexure - IV .  In addition, related High Courts and State Governments  have  set  up  12  Special  Courts  to  deal  with  criminal  cases  related  to legislators.  Details are given in Annexure - V .  Indian Law Institute (ILI) in its Report on the Merger of Tribunals in India (2016) had  identified 36 Tribunals in 2016.

(b): It is the primary responsibility of State Governments to provide adequate infrastructure for  Subordinate  Judiciary  which  includes  court  complexes  /  court  halls  and  residential accommodation.  The Union Government has been administering the Centrally Sponsored

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 643

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 06 TH  FEBRUARY, 2019.

## Village and Family Courts

Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in order to augment the resources  of  State  Governments  in  this  regard  in  association  with  the  States  /  UT Governments.  As on date, Rs. 6,662 crore has been released since the inception of the Scheme  in  1993-94.    Out  of  this,  Rs.  3,218  crore  (48.30%)  has  been  released  to  the States and UTs since April, 2014. 18,796 court halls and 16,652 residential accommodations have been made  available for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts under this scheme as on date.  In addition, 2,925 court halls and 1,756 residential units are under construction. The  Central  Government  has  approved continuation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities  for  Judiciary  beyond  the  12 th Five  Year  Plan  period i.e. from  01.04.2017  to 31.03.2020 with an estimated outlay of Rs.3,320 crore. The State-wise details of sanction of funds under the above mentioned Scheme during last three years and current year are given in a Statement at Annexure - VI.

In  terms  of  Section  3  (1)  of  the  Gram  Nyayalayas  Act,  2008,  the  State Governments are responsible for establishing Gram Nyayalayas in consultation with the respective High Courts. Under the Central Government's Scheme of ' Assistance to States for  Establishing  and  Operationalising  Gram  Nyayalayas ',  the  financial  assistance  is sanctioned  only  after  the  issue  of  notification  for  establishing  Gram  Nyayalayas  by  the respective  State  Governments  and  their  operationalisation.    The  State-wise  details  of sanction of funds under the Gram Nyayalaya Scheme during last three years and current year are  given at Annexure - VII.

For setting up of Family Courts, the Union Government in its Memorandum to the 14 th Finance Commission had proposed an amount of Rs.541 crore for setting up of 235 Family Courts and an amount of Rs.4,144 crore for setting up of Fast Track Courts (FTCs) for trial of cases of heinous crimes, involving senior citizens, women, children, physically challenged and persons affected with terminal ailments etc .  The 14 th Finance Commission endorsed the proposal of the Union Government and urged the State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided in the form of enhanced tax devolution from 32% to 42% to meet such requirements.

(c) : In the case of Imtiyaz Ahmed versus State of Uttar Pradesh and others, the Supreme Court  had  asked  the  Law  Commission  of  India  to  evolve  a  method  for  scientific assessment of the number of additional courts required to clear the backlog of cases.  In its  245 th report (2014), the Law Commission has observed that filing of cases per capita varies substantially across geographic units as filings are associated with economic and social  conditions  of  the  population.    As  such  the  Law  Commission  did  not  consider  the judge population ratio to be a scientific criterion for determining the adequacy of the judge strength in the country.  The Law Commission found that in the absence of complete and scientific approach to data collection across various High Courts in the country, the 'Rate of Disposal' method is more pragmatic and useful for calculating  the number of additional judges required to clear the backlog of cases as well as to ensure that new backlog is not created.  In May, 2014, the Supreme Court asked the State Governments and the High Courts to file their response to the recommendations made by the Law Commission.

In  August  2014,  the  Supreme  Court  asked  the  National  Court  Management System  Committee  (NCMS  Committee)  to  examine  the  recommendations  made  by  the Law Commission and to furnish its recommendations in this regard.  NCMS Committee submitted its report to the Supreme Court in March, 2016.  The report, inter-alia , observes that in the long term, the judge strength of the subordinate courts will have to be assessed by  a  scientific  method  to  determine  the  total  number  of  ' Judicial  Hours '  required  for disposing of the case load of each court.  In the interim, the Committee has proposed a ' weighted ' disposal approach i.e. disposal weighted by the nature and complexity of cases in local conditions.  As per the direction of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in its Order dated 02.01.2017, the Department of Justice has forwarded a copy of interim report of the NCMS Committee to all the State Governments and High Courts to enable them to take follow up action to determine the required Strength of district and subordinate judiciary.

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Annexure - I Statement referred to in Lok Sabha Sabha Unstarred Question No. 643 for reply on 06.02.2019

| Sr No       | State / UT          | Total Court Complexes   | Total Courts   |
|-------------|---------------------|-------------------------|----------------|
| 1           | Andaman and Nicobar | 4                       | 13             |
| 2           | Andhra Pradesh      | 185                     | 705            |
| 3           | Assam               | 65                      | 413            |
| 4           | Bihar               | 79                      | 1825           |
| 5           | Chandigarh          | 1                       | 50             |
| 6           | Chhattisgarh        | 89                      | 425            |
| 7           | Delhi               | 11                      | 461            |
| 8           | Diu and Daman       | 2                       | 10             |
| 9           | DNH at Silvasa      | 2                       | 0              |
| 10          | Goa                 | 15                      | 70             |
| 11          | Gujarat             | 327                     | 1173           |
| 12          | Haryana             | 57                      | 682            |
| 13          | Himachal Pradesh    | 41                      | 253            |
| 14          | Jammu and Kashmir   | 85                      | 435            |
| 15          | Jharkhand           | 22                      | 600            |
| 16          | Karnataka           | 192                     | 1004           |
| 17          | Kerala              | 125                     | 532            |
| 18          | Madhya Pradesh      | 206                     | 2251           |
| 19          | Maharashtra         | 465                     | 2878           |
| 20          | Manipur             | 18                      | 29             |
| 21          | Meghalaya           | 3                       | 49             |
| 22          | Mizoram             | 8                       | 19             |
| 23          | Orissa              | 114                     | 540            |
| 24          | Punjab              | 66                      | 782            |
| 25          | Rajasthan           | 237                     | 1574           |
| 26          | Sikkim              | 4                       | 47             |
| 27          | Tamil Nadu          | 247                     | 1114           |
| 28          | Telangana           | 104                     | 485            |
| 29          | Tripura             | 18                      | 106            |
| 30          | Uttar Pradesh       | 167                     | 2666           |
| 31          | Uttarakhand         | 27                      | 235            |
| 32          | West Bengal         | 85                      | 822            |
| Grand Total | Grand Total         | 3,071                   | 22,248         |

Details of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Lakshadweep and Puducherry are not available.

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Annexure - II Statement referred to in Lok Sabha Sabha Unstarred Question No. 643 for reply on 06.02.2019

## Status of Gram Nyayalayas notified and operationalised by State Governments

| Sl. No.   | State       |   Notified |   Functional |
|-----------|-------------|------------|--------------|
| 1         | M P         |         89 |           89 |
| 2         | Rajasthan   |         45 |           45 |
| 3         | Karnataka   |          2 |            0 |
| 4         | Orissa      |         22 |           14 |
| 5         | Maharashtra |         39 |           24 |
| 6         | Jharkhand   |          6 |            1 |
| 7         | Goa         |          2 |            0 |
| 8         | Punjab      |          2 |            1 |
| 9         | Haryana     |          2 |            2 |
| 10        | UP          |        104 |            4 |
| 11        | Kerala      |         30 |           30 |
| Total     |             |        343 |          210 |

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Annexure - III Statement referred to in Lok Sabha Sabha Unstarred Question No. 643 for reply on 06.02.2019

| S. No.   | Name of the State / UT                         | Number of functional Family Courts            |
|----------|------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh and Telangana                   | 32 (16 in Andhra Pradesh and 16 in Telengana) |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland and Mizoram | 07 (5 in Assam and 2 in Nagaland)             |
| 3        | Bihar                                          | 39                                            |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh                                   | 21                                            |
| 5        | Delhi                                          | 21                                            |
| 6        | Goa                                            | 0                                             |
| 7        | Gujarat                                        | 37                                            |
| 8        | Haryana                                        | 15                                            |
| 9        | Himachal Pradesh                               | 0                                             |
| 10       | Jammu & Kashmir                                | 01                                            |
| 11       | Jharkhand                                      | 24                                            |
| 12       | Karnataka                                      | 28                                            |
| 13       | Kerala                                         | 28                                            |
| 14       | Madhya Pradesh                                 | 58                                            |
| 15       | Maharashtra                                    | 30                                            |
| 16       | Manipur                                        | 07                                            |
| 17       | Meghalaya                                      | 0                                             |
| 18       | Odisha                                         | 21                                            |
| 19       | Punjab                                         | 05                                            |
| 20       | Puducherry                                     | 02                                            |
| 21       | Rajasthan                                      | 39                                            |
| 22       | Sikkim                                         | 04                                            |
| 23       | Tamil Nadu                                     | 29                                            |
| 24       | Chandigarh                                     | 0                                             |
| 25       | Tripura                                        | 04                                            |
| 26       | Uttar Pradesh                                  | 78                                            |
| 27       | Uttarakhand                                    | 16                                            |
| 28       | West Bengal                                    | 02                                            |
| 29       | Andaman & Nicobar                              | 01                                            |
|          | Total                                          | 549                                           |

************

Annexure - IV Statement referred to in Lok Sabha Sabha Unstarred Question No. 643 for reply on

## 06.02.2019

## Fast Track Courts

| S. No.   | Name of the States/UTs                      |   Number of Fast Track Courts |
|----------|---------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana                   |                            54 |
| 2.       | Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram |                             6 |
| 3.       | Bihar                                       |                            48 |
| 4.       | Chhattisgarh                                |                            23 |
| 5.       | Delhi                                       |                            14 |
| 6.       | Goa                                         |                             2 |
| 7.       | Gujarat                                     |                             0 |
| 8.       | Haryana                                     |                             0 |
| 9.       | Himachal Pradesh                            |                             0 |
| 10.      | Jammu & Kashmir                             |                             0 |
| 11.      | Jharkhand                                   |                            32 |
| 12.      | Karnataka                                   |                             0 |
| 13.      | Kerala                                      |                             0 |
| 14.      | Madhya Pradesh                              |                             0 |
| 15.      | Maharashtra                                 |                            93 |
| 16.      | Manipur                                     |                             4 |
| 17.      | Meghalaya                                   |                             0 |
| 18.      | Odisha                                      |                             0 |
| 19.      | Punjab                                      |                             0 |
| 20.      | Puducherry                                  |                             0 |
| 21.      | Rajasthan                                   |                             0 |
| 22.      | Sikkim                                      |                             2 |
| 23.      | Tamil Nadu                                  |                            72 |
| 24.      | Tripura                                     |                             3 |
| 25.      | Uttar Pradesh                               |                           286 |
| 26.      | Uttarakhand                                 |                             4 |
| 27.      | West Bengal                                 |                            88 |
|          | Total                                       |                           731 |

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## Annexure - V Statement referred to in Lok Sabha Sabha Unstarred Question No. 643 for reply on 06.02.2019

## Special Courts to deal with criminal cases related to legislators

| S No.   | Name of State   |   Number of Special Court |
|---------|-----------------|---------------------------|
| 1.      | Telengana       |                         1 |
| 2.      | Tamilnadu       |                         1 |
| 3.      | Karnataka       |                         1 |
| 4.      | Bihar           |                         1 |
| 5.      | Andhra Pradesh  |                         1 |
| 6.      | Kerala          |                         1 |
| 7.      | Maharashtra     |                         1 |
| 8.      | Madhya Pradesh  |                         1 |
| 9.      | Uttar Pradesh   |                         1 |
| 10.     | West Bengal     |                         1 |
| 11.     | Delhi           |                         2 |
|         | Total           |                        12 |

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Annexure - VI Statement referred to in Lok Sabha Sabha Unstarred Question No. 643 for reply on 06.02.2019

## Funds sanctioned during last three years and current year under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary (Rs. In Lakh)

| Sl. No.   | State                  | Funds sanctioned in 2015-16   | Funds sanctioned in 2016-17   | Funds sanctioned in 2017-18   | Funds sanctioned in 2018-19 (upto 31.01.2019)   |
|-----------|------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| 1.        | Andhra Pradesh         |                               |                               |                               |                                                 |
| 2.        | Bihar                  |                               | 5000.00                       | 4290.00                       | 6204.00                                         |
| 3.        | Chhattisgarh           |                               |                               |                               | 851.00                                          |
| 4.        | Goa                    |                               |                               |                               | 315.00                                          |
| 5.        | Gujarat                | 5000.00                       | 5000.00                       | 5000.00                       | 1502.00                                         |
| 6.        | Haryana                | 5000.00                       |                               | 1500.00                       | 1191.00                                         |
| 7.        | Himachal Pradesh       |                               | 819.00                        |                               | 408.00                                          |
| 8.        | Jammu & Kashmir        | 1325.00                       | 2104.00                       | 1000.00                       | 1021.00                                         |
| 9.        | Jharkhand              | 3044.00                       |                               | 5000.00                       | 959.00                                          |
| 10.       | Karnataka              | 5000.00                       | 5000.00                       | 5000.00                       | 3812.00                                         |
| 11.       | Kerala                 |                               |                               | 2500.00                       | 1965.00                                         |
| 12.       | Madhya Pradesh         | 5000.00                       |                               | 5000.00                       | 6942.00                                         |
| 13.       | Maharashtra            | 5000.00                       | 4975.00                       | 5000.00                       | 1058.00                                         |
| 14.       | Orissa                 |                               |                               |                               | 2250.00                                         |
| 15.       | Punjab                 | 5000.00                       | 4800.00                       | 5000.00                       | 1447.00                                         |
| 16.       | Rajasthan              | 5000.00                       | 4374.00                       | 1734.00                       | 1741.00                                         |
| 17.       | Tamil nadu             |                               | 5000.00                       |                               | 609.00                                          |
| 18.       | Uttarakhand            |                               |                               | 2500.00                       | 1321.00                                         |
| 19.       | UttarPradesh           | 5000.00                       | 5000.00                       | 7500.00                       | 12806.00                                        |
| 20.       | West Bengal            |                               |                               | 1734.00                       | 3522.00                                         |
|           | Total (A)              | 44369.00                      | 42072.00                      | 52758.00                      | 49924.00                                        |
|           | NE States              |                               |                               |                               |                                                 |
| 1.        | Arunachal Pradesh      | 1593.00                       |                               |                               |                                                 |
| 2.        | Assam                  |                               |                               | 2000.00                       | 2616.00                                         |
| 3.        | Manipur                | 2000.00                       |                               |                               | 887.00                                          |
| 4.        | Meghalaya              | 2037.00                       | 2000.00                       | 863.00                        | 1482.00                                         |
| 5.        | Mizoram                |                               |                               | 2000.00                       | 594.00                                          |
| 6.        | Nagaland               |                               | 2000.00                       | 2000.00                       | 321.00                                          |
| 7.        | Sikkim                 |                               |                               |                               | 257.00                                          |
| 8.        | Tripura                |                               |                               |                               |                                                 |
|           | Total (B)              | 5630.00                       | 4000.00                       | 6863.00                       | 6157.00                                         |
|           | UTs                    |                               |                               |                               |                                                 |
| 1.        | A & N Islands          |                               | 259.68                        |                               | 131.00                                          |
| 2.        | Chandigarh             |                               |                               |                               |                                                 |
| 3.        | Dadra & Nagar Haveili* |                               |                               |                               |                                                 |
| 4.        | Daman & Diu            |                               | 42.43                         |                               |                                                 |
| 5.        | Delhi                  | 6,040.32                      | 5,000.00                      | 2,500.00                      |                                                 |
| 6.        | Lakshadweep            |                               |                               |                               |                                                 |
| 7.        | Pondicherry            | 259.68                        | 2500.00                       |                               |                                                 |
|           | Total (C)              | 6300.00                       | 7802.11                       | 2500.00                       | 131.00                                          |
|           | Grand Total (A+B+C)    | 56299.00                      | 53874.11                      | 62121.00                      | 56212.00                                        |

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## Annexure - VII Statement referred to in Lok Sabha Sabha Unstarred Question No. 643 for reply on

06.02.2019 Funds sanctioned during last three years and current year under Gram Nyayalayas Scheme

## (Rs. In Lakh)

| Sl. No.   | State         |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |   2017-18 |   2018-19 |
|-----------|---------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1.        | Orissa        |       211 |         0 |         0 |      0    |
| 2.        | Maharashtra   |         0 |         0 |        79 |      0    |
| 3.        | Uttar Pradesh |         0 |       500 |       346 |    349.78 |
| 4.        | Kerala        |         0 |         0 |       375 |    450.22 |
| Total     | Total         |       211 |       500 |       800 |    800    |

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