Lok Sabha Question No. 3980 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-24
Subject: Court Rooms in Lower Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Anto  Antony, Jagdambika Pal, Vincent H Pala

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3980

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 24 TH  MARCH, 2023

## Court Rooms in Lower Courts

3980.   SHRI ANTO ANTONY:

SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL: SHRI VINCENT H. PALA:

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

(a)  whether  it  is  a  fact  that  the  number  of  court  rooms  available  for  lower  courts  in  the country is less than the sanctioned strength of judges in the subordinate judiciary, if so, the details thereof;

(b) the details of infrastructural facilities available and the constraints, if any, being faced by the Government in dealing with infrastructural challenges faced by lower judiciary and the steps taken to address the same; and

(c)  the  details  of  the  tangible  plan  to  overcome  the  gap  between  sanctioned  strength  of judges  and  availability  of  court  halls  and  gap  between  sanctioned  strength  and  available residential units?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (c):  As against sanctioned strength of 25,189 and working strength of 19,524 judicial officers,  there are 21296 Court Halls and 18741 Residential Units that are available for the District  &  Subordinate  judiciary  in  the  country.  Compared  with  the  sanctioned  strength  of 25189 Judicial  Officers,  there  is  a  gap  of  3893  court  halls  and  6448  residential  units  but, when compared with the actual working strength of Judicial Officers, there is no shortage of courts  halls,  and  a  small  shortage  of  residential  units.  However,  there  are  already  1655 number of Residential Units and  2806 number of Court Halls that are under construction. The State-wise details are at Annexure.

The  primary  responsibility  of  development  of  infrastructure  facilities  for  judiciary rests  with  the  State  Governments.  However,  to  augment  the  resources  of  the  State Governments/UTs,  the  Union  Government  has  been  implementing  a  Centrally  Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for the Development of Infrastructure Facilities for the Judiciary by providing financial  assistance  to  them  in  the  prescribed  fund-sharing  pattern  between  the  Centre  and States. The scheme is being implemented since 1993-94. It covers the construction of court buildings  and  residential  accommodations  for  judicial  officers  of  district  and  subordinate judiciary. The scheme has been extended from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with a budgetary outlay of  Rs.  9000  crores  including  central  share  of  Rs.  5307  crores.  Besides  the  construction  of court halls and residential quarters, the scheme now also covers the construction of lawyers' halls, digital computer rooms, and toilet complexes in the district and subordinate courts. A sum of Rs. 9812.82 crores has been released under the scheme so far since its inception, out of  which  Rs.  6368.51  crores  (64.90  %)  has  been  released  since  2014-15.    Allocation  for Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Judicial Infrastructure during 2022-23 is Rs. 848 crore out of which by 20.03.2023 the utilization is Rs. 803 crores and for the coming financial year 202324,  the  allocation  is  Rs.1051  crore  which  is  24%  increase  over  the  last  year.  Hence,  the Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  on  Judicial  Infrastructure  plans  to  overcome  any  gap  in  the availability of requisite infrastructure.

As  regards  constraints,  the  COVID-19  pandemic  led  to  general  slowdown  of  the spending  on  infrastructure  projects  by  the  States/UTs,  Further,  it  was  observed  by  the Ministry of Finance that the funds being released to the States/UTs under the CSS' were not being put to use in a time bound manner, resulting in huge unspent balances with the State Governments. The Government introduced a revised Public Financial Management System(PFMS)  for  release  of  funds  to  the  CSS'    to  ensure  that  the  central  funds  and corresponding  state  share  of  funds  are  used  appropriately  and  are  invested  solely  in  that specific scheme. Owing to fulfillment of a number of procedural and technical requirements, the states/UTs had some problems in on-boarding the PFMS. However, with passages of time all those technical problems were got rectified/settled and all the states have now on-boarded the  PFMS  and  are  making  expenditure  through  PFMS  only.  Besides  writing  to  the  States regularly,  the  Central  Level  Monitoring  Committee  of  the  Department  of  Justice  held  bimonthly meetings on regular basis with the States/UTs during which, all the States and UTs were urged to utilize the unspent balance available with them expeditiously.

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## Annexure

Statement referred to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3980 for reply on 24.03.2023, State/UTwise details of Sanctioned/Working Strength and Court Halls/Residential Units as on 20.03.2023

| Sl. No.   | States &UTs         |   Total Sanctioned Strength |   Total Working Strength |   Total Court Halls |   Total Residential Units |
|-----------|---------------------|-----------------------------|--------------------------|---------------------|---------------------------|
| 1         | Andaman and Nicobar |                           0 |                       13 |                  17 |                        10 |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh      |                         618 |                      548 |                 647 |                       574 |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh   |                          41 |                       33 |                  29 |                        29 |
| 4         | Assam               |                         485 |                      425 |                 424 |                       371 |
| 5         | Bihar               |                        2016 |                     1350 |                1505 |                      1197 |
| 6         | Chandigarh          |                          30 |                       30 |                  31 |                        30 |
| 7         | Chhattisgarh        |                         552 |                      436 |                 475 |                       460 |
| 8         | D &NHaveli          |                           3 |                        2 |                   3 |                         3 |
| 9         | Daman &Diu          |                           4 |                        4 |                   5 |                         5 |
| 10        | Delhi               |                         887 |                      709 |                 694 |                       348 |
| 11        | Goa                 |                          50 |                       40 |                  53 |                        26 |
| 12        | Gujarat             |                        1582 |                     1151 |                1524 |                      1341 |
| 13        | Haryana             |                         772 |                      574 |                 561 |                       518 |
| 14        | Himachal Pradesh    |                         179 |                      163 |                 170 |                       153 |
| 15        | Jammu and Kashmir   |                         314 |                      222 |                 199 |                       122 |
| 16        | Jharkhand           |                         694 |                      505 |                 658 |                       609 |
| 17        | Karnataka           |                        1375 |                     1134 |                1185 |                      1142 |
| 18        | Kerala              |                         601 |                      471 |                 564 |                       538 |
| 19        | Ladakh              |                          17 |                        9 |                   9 |                         6 |
| 20        | Lakshadweep         |                           4 |                        4 |                   3 |                         3 |
| 21        | Madhya Pradesh      |                        2028 |                     1642 |                1543 |                      1681 |
| 22        | Maharashtra         |                        2190 |                     1940 |                2350 |                      2055 |
| 23        | Manipur             |                          59 |                       42 |                  43 |                        16 |
| 24        | Meghalaya           |                          99 |                       57 |                  53 |                        26 |
| 25        | Mizoram             |                          74 |                       41 |                  47 |                        37 |
| 26        | Nagaland            |                          34 |                       24 |                  30 |                        39 |
| 27        | Odisha              |                        1001 |                      814 |                 814 |                       707 |
| 28        | Puducherry          |                          28 |                       11 |                  36 |                        29 |
| 29        | Punjab              |                         797 |                      589 |                 589 |                       625 |
| 30        | Rajasthan           |                        1587 |                     1249 |                1338 |                      1137 |
| 31        | Sikkim              |                          30 |                       23 |                  20 |                        15 |
| 32        | Tamil Nadu          |                        1343 |                     1061 |                1215 |                      1343 |
| 33        | Telangana           |                         560 |                      419 |                 533 |                       475 |
| 34        | Tripura             |                         128 |                      108 |                  82 |                        91 |
| 35        | Uttar Pradesh       |                        3694 |                     2494 |                2758 |                      2349 |
| 36        | Uttrakhand          |                         299 |                      269 |                 253 |                       210 |
| 37 West   | Bengal              |                        1014 |                      918 |                 836 |                       421 |
| TOTAL     | TOTAL               |                       25189 |                    19524 |               21296 |                     18741 |

Source: MIS Portal (Department of Justice)