Lok Sabha Question No. 1220 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-25
Subject: Problems within Judiciary
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: J. JAYASINGH THIYAGARAJ NATTERJEE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1220

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 25 TH  JULY, 2018.

## Problems within Judiciary

1220. SHRI J.J.T. NATTERJEE:

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

- (a)  whether  the  judiciary  is  plagued  by  pendency  of  cases,  corruption,  lack  of transparency (particularly in the appointment of judges), plight of under trials, lack of information and interaction among people and courts; and
- (b)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  steps  being  taken  by  Government  to  resolve each of these problems / issues?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b): Data on pendency of cases in the Supreme Court and High Courts is  maintained  by  the  Supreme  Court  and  High  Courts  respectively.  As  per latest information available on the website of Supreme Court of India, the total number of pending cases in the Supreme Court is 54,013.  As per information available on the web-portal of National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), 43.48 lakh cases are pending in various High Courts as on date. 2.75 crore cases are pending in various District and Subordinate courts of the country (excluding State / Union Territories of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Lakshadweep and Puducherry) as on date. Disposal of cases pending in various courts is within the  domain  of  judiciary.  In  pursuance  of  resolution  passed  in  the  Chief Justices'  Conference  held  in  April,  2015,  all  the  High  Courts  have  set  up Arrears  Committees  to  take  necessary  steps  for  clearing  the  backlog  of pending  cases.  The  Arrears  Committees  have  chalked  out  Action  Plans  to reduce pendencies in their respective jurisdictions. The Supreme Court has also constituted an Arrears Committee to formulate steps to reduce pendency of cases in High Courts and District Courts.  At district level, the District Judge holds  monthly  meeting  of  all  judicial  officers  to  monitor  progress  made  in reduction of long pending cases.  Further, the Central Government has taken several  steps  to  provide  an  ecosystem  for  faster  disposal  of  cases  by  the judiciary.  The Government has set up a National Mission for Justice Delivery and  Legal  Reforms  to  achieve  this  objective.  The  Mission  has  adopted  a coordinated approach for improving the working condition of the district and subordinate judiciary through various strategic initiatives, including improving infrastructure for courts, leveraging information, communication and technology (ICT) for better justice delivery, and filling up of vacant positions of judges in High Courts and Supreme Court.

Any complaint against the Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts are handled as per the 'In-house procedure'. Further, as per Article 235 of the Constitution of India, the control over district courts and courts subordinate thereto vests in the High Court.

In order to bring transparency in the area of appointment of Judges in higher  judiciary,  the  Government  passed  the  National  Judicial  Appointment Commission (NJAC) Act 2014 but the same was struck down by the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court of India vide order dated 16.12.2015 in Writ  Petition  (Civil)  No.13  of  2015  directed  the  Government  of  India  for bringing improvement in the Collegium system by supplementing the existing Memorandum  of  Procedure  (MoP)  in  consultation  with  the  Supreme  Court Collegium, taking into consideration factors such as eligibility criteria, transparency,  establishment  of  Secretariat  and  mechanism  to  deal  with complaints.  The  Government  of  India  after  due  deliberations,  proposed changes in the existing MoP. The draft MoP was sent to the Hon'ble Chief Justice  of  India  vide  letter  dated  22.03.2016.  The  response  of  the  Chief Justice  of  India  thereon  was  received  on  25.05.2016  and  01.07.2016.  The views  of  the  Government  were  conveyed  to  the  Chief  Justice  of  India  on 03.08.2016.  The  inputs  on  the  MoP  of  the  Supreme  Court  Collegium  were received from Chief Justice of India vide letter dated 13.03.2017. Meanwhile, in  another  judgment  dated  4.7.2017  of  Supreme  Court  in  a  'suo  moto' contempt  proceeding  against  a  Judge  of  the  Calcutta  High  Court,  the Supreme Court  has  underlined  the  need  to  revisit  the  process  of  selection and  appointment  of  Judges.    The  Government  of  India  has  conveyed  the need to make improvement on the draft MoP to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court vide letter dated 11.07.2017.

Under  Trial  Review  Committees  (UTRCs)  headed  by  the  District  & Session Judges, who are also the Chairperson of the District Legal Services Authorities  (DLSAs),  have  been  established  in  all  the  districts.  The  said committee  holds  quarterly  meetings.  The  areas  which  primarily  are  looked into  by  the  UTRCs  includes  Under-Trial  Prisoners  (UTPs)  covered  under Section 436A Cr.P.C.; UTPs released on bail by the court, but who  have not been  able  to  furnish  sureties;  UTPs  accused  of  compoundable  offences; UTPs eligible  under  Section  436  of  Cr.P.C.;  convicts  who  have  undergone their  sentence  or  are  entitled  to  release  because  of  remission  granted  to them;  UTPs  who  are  imprisoned  for  offences  which  carry  a  maximum punishment of 2 years; UTPs who are sick or infirm and require specialized medical treatment; UTPs women offenders.

Under Phase-I (2010-15) of eCourts Mission Mode Project undertaken by  the  Central  Government,  13,672  district  and  subordinate  courts  were computerized.  This  includes  the  installation  of  hardware,  the  LAN  and software. This has enabled the courts to upload the case status and orders online.  Status  of  cases  and  copies  of  judgments  have  also  been  made available  on  the  websites  of  the  respective  District  and  Subordinate  Court Complexes  which  have  been  computerized.  A  budget  outlay  of  Rs.1,670 crore  was  approved  for  the  Phase  II  of  the  eCourts  Mission  Mode  Project (2015 to 2019), out of which Rs.1073.18 crores has been released till date. The facilities of e-services etc. are being provided under the supervision of eCommittee  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  Computer  Committees  of  respective High Courts for cause lists, case status, daily orders, judgements etc. . A total of 16,089 district and subordinate courts have been computerised under the eCourts Project till date. Video Conferencing facility has also been opertionalised between 488 court complexes and 342 corresponding prisons during the period 2015-17. The National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) developed under this project provides updated information on civil and criminal cases, including pending cases, for the computerised district / subordinate courts in the country.

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