Lok Sabha Question No. 5009 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-31
Subject: Shortage of Judges in Bihar
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Vijay Kumar

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. †5009 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 31 ST MARCH, 2023

## SHORTAGE OF JUDGES IN BIHAR

†5009. SHRI VIJAY KUMAR:

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

- (a) whether the number of Judges in Bihar is very low, if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (b) the corrective measures being taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) whether the pending cases in courts in Bihar have been on rise due to shortage of Judges;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the measures being taken to address the said issue; and
- (e)  the  plan  of  the  Government  for  opening  Law  Colleges  for  women  in  Bihar, particularly in Gaya?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

- (a): As  per  the  information  provided  by  the  Patna  High  Court,  the  sanctioned, working  strength  and  vacancy  position  of  judges/judicial  officers  in  Bihar,  as  on 01.03.2023, is as follows:
- (b): In so far as the corrective measures for increasing the strength of the judiciary in the District and Subordinate Courts is concerned, the Union Government does not have any direct role in the selection, appointment and/or increase in strength of state judicial officers as the same falls within the domain of the High Courts and State Governments concerned. In case of higher judiciary, the appointment of judges  in the High Courts is a  continuous,  integrated  and  collaborative  process  between  the  Executive  and  the Judiciary. It  requires  consultation  and  approval  from  various constitutional  authorities both  at  state  and  central  level.  While  every  effort  is  made  to  fill  up  the  existing vacancies expeditiously, vacancies of Judges in High Courts keep on arising on account of retirement, resignation or elevation of Judges and also due to increase in the strength of Judges.
- (c) & (d): The  Patna  High  Court,  has  not  conducted  any  such  study  which  could show that pending cases in courts of Bihar has been on rise due to shortage of Judges. However, the increase/decrease in pendency of cases during the past 3 years in courts of Bihar is as follows:

| Name of Court                |   Sanctioned Strength |   Working Strength |   Vacancy |
|------------------------------|-----------------------|--------------------|-----------|
| Patna High Court             |                    53 |                 31 |        22 |
| District &Subordinate Courts |                  2016 |               1350 |       668 |

Source: Patna High Court

| S.no.   | Name of Court                |   Pendency of Cases (as on 31st December) |   Pendency of Cases (as on 31st December) |   Pendency of Cases (as on 31st December) |
|---------|------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
|         |                              |                                      2020 |                                      2021 |                                      2022 |
| 1.      | Patna High Court             |                                    179462 |                                    226071 |                                    212173 |
| 2.      | District &Subordinate Courts |                                   3016743 |                                   3276696 |                                   3464725 |

Source: Patna High Court

The details of steps/plan/measures taken by Patna High Court to reduce/minimize the pendency of cases are as under:-

- i. Bihar (Cases Flow Management in High Court) Rules, 2008 has been framed by Patna High Court and notified by the State Government. This has ensured streamlining of disposal of Writ Petitions, Letters, Patent Appeal and other Civil and Criminal matters pending before the High court.
- ii. Some of the Commercial and Environmental matters have been subjected to Division Bench adjudication which has proved very effective in settlement and  expeditious  finality  of  commercial  and  environmental  disputes  so  that infrastructural and developmental works do not suffer due to the process of Intra-Court Appeal. This is in tune with the suggestion of the Supreme Court to  avoid  multiple  layers  of  adjudication  which  in  the  end  causes  delay  in finally settling the issues.
- iii. Identification  and  consequent  segregation  of  matters  under  various  heads especially  involving  issues  which  have  earlier  been  decided  by  the  Court which  would  result  in  disposal  of  such  cases  in  lesser  time.  This  includes identification and listing of Analogous Cases and similar nature of cases.
- iv. Holding of Special Courts by some of the Benches on Saturdays, particularly for pending bail matters. Constitution of large number of Vacation Benches during vacations and holidays for disposal of important matters including bail applications, section 389 (1) Cr.P.C. applications and matters which require passing of interlocutory orders.
- v. Special drive for tracking cases which have not been listed and heard even once for some reason or the other and preparation of consolidated list for all Benches with particular emphasis on 40, 30, 20 and 10 years old cases.These steps  have  led  to  disposal  of  1,02,635  Criminal  matters  and  29,030  Civil matters  till  31.01.2023,  since 03rd  January,  2022,  which  has  positively contributed towards  improvement of Case Clearance Ratio (CCR) of Patna High Court to 110.83 % for the said period.
- vi. In  case  of  the  District  and  Subordinate  Courts, steps  have  been  taken  by Hon'ble  Arrears  Committee  of  Patna  High  Court  to  reduce  the  pendency wherein each Court at District level has been given target to dispose of 15 oldest  cases  pending  as  shown  on  National  Judicial  Data  Grid  (NJDG)  in every quarter. Further, all the District & Sessions Judges have been directed

to  monitor  the  disposal  of  old  cases  of  every  Court  under  their  respective jurisdiction  on  the  clearance  day  of  every  month  through  District  Arrear Committee. All  the  District  &  Sessions  Judges  have  also  been  directed  to ensure that every Court must prepare quarterly plan for disposal of old cases of their respective courts.

(e): Opening of law colleges in any State lies within the purview of the respective State  Governments.  The  Central  Government  have  no  plans  currently  to  open  law colleges for women in Bihar particularly in Gaya.

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