Lok Sabha Question No. 2562 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-04
Subject: Post of Judges Lying vacant
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Jayadev Galla

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE

## DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2562 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 04 th  AUGUST, 2021

## POST OF JUDGES LYING VACANT

## 2562. SHRI JAYADEV GALLA:

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

- (a)  the  number  of  posts  of  judges  lying  vacant  in  District  Courts  of  Andhra Pradesh at present and time since when they are lying vacant, district-wise;
- (b) the number of cases pending in the above district courts during the last five years, year-wise and district-wise and the reasons for such backlog pendency;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  is  persuading  State  Governments  to  fill  the vacancies; and
- (d) the timeline by when these vacancies is likely to be filled?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE

## (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

- (a): Details of number of posts of judges lying vacant at present and time since when they are lying vacant  in respect of District Courts of Andhra Pradesh as provided by the  High Court of Andhra Pradesh is enclosed at Annexure-I .
- (b): Details of number of cases pending District-wise during the last five years, yearwise as provided by High Court of Andhra Pradesh is enclosed at Annexure-II . Time taken for disposal of a case depends on several factors such as category of case (civil or  criminal),  complexity  of  facts  involved,  nature  of  evidence,  co-operation  of stakeholders  viz.  bar,  investigation  agencies,  witnesses  and  litigants  besides  the availability  of  physical  infrastructure,  supporting  court  staff  and  applicable  rules  of procedure.    There  are  several  factors  which  may  lead  to  delay  in  disposal  of  cases. These, inter-alia, include vacancies of judges, frequent adjournments, lack of adequate arrangement to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing etc.

(c) & (d): Under Article 235 of the Constitution of India, the administrative control over  the  members  of  district  and  subordinate  judiciary  in  the  States  vest  with  the concerned  High  Court.  Further,  in  exercise  of  powers  conferred  under  proviso  to Article  309  read  with  Articles  233  and  234  of  the  constitution,  the  respective  State Government, in consultation with the High Court, frames the Rules and Regulations regarding the issue of appointment, promotion, reservations and retirement of Judicial Officers  in  the  State  Judicial  Service.    Hence,  in  so  far  as  recruitment  of  judicial officers  in  the  States  is  concerned,  respective  High  Courts  do  it  in  certain  States, whereas  the  High  Courts  do  it  in consultation with  the State Public Service Commissions in other States.

The  Union  Government  does  not  have  a  role  under  the  Constitution  in  the selection  and  appointment  of  judicial  officers  in  District/  subordinate  judiciary.  The Supreme Court, in its orders of 04 th January, 2007 in Malik Mazhar case, has devised a process and time frame to be followed for the filling up of vacancies in subordinate judiciary which stipulates that the process for recruitment of judges in the subordinate courts would commence on 31st March of a calendar year and end by 31st October of the same year. The Supreme Court has permitted State Governments / High Courts for variations  in  the  time  schedule  in  case  of  any  difficulty  based  on  the  peculiar geographical and climatic conditions in the State or other relevant conditions.

Further, in compliance of the above directions of the Supreme  Court, Department of Justice forwarded a copy of the Malik Mazhar judgement to Registrars General of all High Courts for necessary action. Department of Justice is writing from time  to  time  to  Registrars  General  of  all  High  Courts  to  expedite  the  filling  up  of vacancies in subordinate judiciary mandated by Malik Mazhar case.

In  September,  2016,  Union  Minister  of  Law  &  Justice  wrote  to  the  Chief Ministers of States and the Chief Justices of High Courts to enhance the cadre strength of the District and Subordinate Courts and provide physical infrastructure to the State judiciary. The same was reiterated in May, 2017.  In August, 2018, in the context of increasing pendency of cases, the Union Minister of Law & Justice has written to all Chief Justices of High Courts including High Court of Andhra Pradesh to monitor the status  of  the  vacancies  regularly  and  to  ensure  proper  coordination  with  the  State Public Service Commission to fill up vacant posts as per time schedule prescribed by the  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  in  the  Malik  Mazhar  Sultan  case.  The  filling  up  of vacancies is also being monitored by the Supreme Court in a suo-motu Writ Petition (Civil) No. 2 of 2018.

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## Annexure-I

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO  PART (A)  OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  2562  FOR  ANSWER  ON  04.08.2021  REGARDING    POST  OF  JUDGES LYING VACANT

|   Sl No. | Name of the District   |   Sanctioned Strength |   Working Strength |   Vacancy | Date from when Vacant                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|----------|------------------------|-----------------------|--------------------|-----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Anantapur              |                     8 |                  7 |         1 | Chairman Industrial Tribunal -cum- POLC, Ananthapuramu from 26.03.2020                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
|        2 | Chittoor               |                    13 |                  9 |         4 | VI ADJ, Chittoor from July, 2021 POSCO Court, from 01.01.2021 X ADJ, Tirupati, from July, 2021 VII ADJ, Madanapalli, from 01.09.2020                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
|        3 | Cuddapah               |                     8 |                  6 |         2 | I ADJ, Kadapa, from 02.07.2020 VII ADJ (Women) Court, Kadapa, - Date Nil-                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
|        4 | East Godavari          |                    13 |                  7 |         6 | POSCO Court, Kakinada, from February, 2021 Special Judge for SCs and STs Act, Rajamahendravaram from July, 2021 Judge, Family Court, Rajamahendravaram from July, 2021 V ADJ, Rajamahendravaram from 01.01.2020 VIII ADJ, Rajamahendravaram, from 01.07.2021 VI ADJ, Kakinada, from 01.06.2021                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|        5 | Guntur                 |                    12 |                  7 |         5 | III ADJ, Guntur, from 26.08.2020 Judge, Family Court, Guntur, from July, 2021 POSCO Court, Guntur, from 02.10.2019 X ADJ, Gurazala, from 12.09.2019                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
|        6 | Krishna                |                    21 |                 11 |        10 | V ADJ, Guntur, from July, 2021 I ADJ, Machilipatnam, from June 2020 VI ADJ, Machilipatnam, from 01.08.2020 SPE and ACB Court, Vijayawada, from February, 2021 XIV ADJ, Vijayawada, from 10.07.2020 Co-Operative Tribunal, Vijayawada from 01.02.2018 POSCO Court, Vijayawada, from 02.10.2019 VII ADJ, Vijayawada, from June 2020 Special Court for Trial of Criminal Cases relating to elected MPs and MLAs, Vijayawada from 07.03.2018 Special Court for Protection of depositors of financial establishment |

|    |               |     |    |    | Act, 1999, Vijayawada from 15.12.2016 XVI ADJ, Nandigama, from July, 2021                                                                                                                                |
|----|---------------|-----|----|----|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 7  | Kurnool       |   9 |  7 |  2 | I ADJ, Kurnool, from July, 2021 VII ADJ (Women) Court, Kurnool - Date Nil-                                                                                                                               |
| 8  | Nellore       |  10 |  8 |  2 | VII ADJ (Women) Court, Nellore, from July, 2021 POSCO Court, Nellore, from 02.10.2019                                                                                                                    |
| 9  | Prakasam      |   7 |  4 |  3 | Family Court, Ongole from July, 2021 II ADJ, Ongole from 19.09.2019 POSCO Court, Ongole, from 02.10.2019                                                                                                 |
| 10 | Srikakulam    |   7 |  4 |  3 | I ADJ, Srikakulam from 24.06.2020 Special Court for SCs and STs Act, Srikakulam, from 01.03.2021 V ADJ, Lakshmipeta from 01.02.2014                                                                      |
| 11 | Visakhapatnam |  21 | 14 |  7 | III ADJ, Visakhapatnam 08.07.2020 Family Court from 31.08.2020 I and III Addl. CBI, from May, 2018 VAT Appellate Tribunal, from 11.04.2018 VII ADJ, 07.07.2020 XIII ADJ, from July, 2021                 |
| 12 | Vizianagaram  |   6 |  4 |  2 | Special Court for SCs and STs, Vizianagaram from 01.06.2021 V ADJ, Vizianagaram from 06.03.2021                                                                                                          |
| 13 | West Godavari |  11 |  6 |  5 | Chairman LRAT-cum- II ADJ, Eluru, from 01.06.2021 Judge, Family Court, from 10.10.2020 Special Court for SCs and STs Act, from 10.07.2020 V ADJ, Eluru, from 01.01.2019 X ADJ, Narsapur, from July, 2020 |
|    | Total         | 146 | 94 | 52 |                                                                                                                                                                                                          |

Annexure-II STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO  PART (B) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  2562  FOR  ANSWER  ON  04.08.2021  REGARDING    POST  OF  JUDGES LYING VACANT Number of pending cases year wise and district wise

|   Sl No. | Name of District   |   the 2016 |   2017 |   2018 |   2019 |   2020 |   2021 (as on 30.06.2021) |
|----------|--------------------|------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|---------------------------|
|        1 | Anantapur          |       4577 |   5952 |   6568 |   6370 |   5973 |                      6568 |
|        2 | Chittoor           |       9289 |   9472 |   8978 |   9024 |   9190 |                      9839 |
|        3 | Cuddapah           |       5665 |   5891 |   5708 |   6306 |   7611 |                      8260 |
|        4 | East Godavari      |       9197 |  10622 |  11294 |  12652 |  13954 |                     15789 |
|        5 | Guntur             |       9844 |  11566 |  12994 |  14618 |  14106 |                     15649 |
|        6 | Krishna            |      13444 |  14731 |  15331 |  16095 |  18201 |                     19945 |
|        7 | Kurnool            |       6484 |   8023 |   8703 |   9124 |   7993 |                      8547 |
|        8 | Nellore            |       6819 |   6691 |   6608 |   7191 |   7687 |                      8613 |
|        9 | Prakasam           |       4370 |   5189 |   6513 |   7125 |   7842 |                      7923 |
|       10 | Srikakulam         |       2586 |   2524 |   2188 |   2274 |   2880 |                      3374 |
|       11 | Visakhapatnam      |      17711 |  18522 |  20492 |  20432 |  21564 |                     22385 |
|       12 | Vizianagaram       |       2384 |   2641 |   2467 |   2947 |   3120 |                      3241 |
|       13 | West Godavari      |       7350 |   8117 |   8892 |  10380 |  10459 |                     11081 |