Under UPA-II,case pendency,vacancies up

Loud claims and ambitious plans of the Union Law Ministry in this regard notwithstanding,all-India statistics released by the Supreme Court recently show that the backlog of pending cases has gone up since UPA-II came into power.

Loud claims and ambitious plans of the Union Law Ministry in this regard notwithstanding,all-India statistics released by the Supreme Court recently show that the backlog of pending cases has gone up since UPA-II came into power.

Likewise,the number of vacant posts of judges of the high courts and subordinate courts has gone up considerably.

According to the SC data,as on October 31,2010,as against the sanctioned strength of 895 judges,the high courts in the country had just 608 judges deciding cases a shortfall of 287 judges.

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In many cases,the Law Ministry and other wings of the government have been guilty of sitting on recommendations of SC collegium or state HC collegiums. There were 234 vacancies on July 1,2009,the date for the first such data collection after the formation of UPA-II.

The figures for subordinate judiciary are worse. While there were 2,998 vacancies of judges in subordinate judiciary in the country at the end of March 31,2009,the number has gone up to 3,070 at the end of June 30,2010,for which the SC has released the figures.

Bihar and Gujarat,both non-Congress ruled states,have the highest number of vacancies 342 and 333,respectively.

As for pendency of cases,compared to last years figures,the number of pending cases in high courts went up from 39,55,224 to 41,83,731. At almost 9.70 lakh,Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of pending cases followed by Bombay HC (3.44 lakh) and Calcutta HC (3.29 lakh).

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Similarly,for subordinate judiciary,the number of pending cases also went from 2.67 crore at the end of March 2009 to 2.78 crore at the end of June 2010.

Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily has been talking of the need to reduce litigaton,even getting the 13th Finance Commission to give a grant of Rs 5,000 crore to the Law Ministry for introducing newer technology to tackle pendency.

His ministry had also some time back come up with the ambitious National Litigation Policy,one of whose main features is to cut down government litigation by at least one-third. However,most of the plans have remained non-starters,leading to speculation that Moily,who narrowly missed being ejected from the high-profile and crucial ministry in the recently-effected minor reshuffle in the union council of ministers,could be on the chopping block when the Prime Minister carries out his planned major reshuffle post-Budget.

Vacancies
High Court judges
234 on July 1,2009
287 on Oct 31,2010
895 sanctioned strength

Subordinate judiciary
2,998 on March 31,2009
3,070 on June 30,2010
Bihar: 342 (highest)
Gujarat: 333

Pending cases
High Courts
39,55,224 on March 31,2009
41,83,731 on June 30,2010
Uttar Pradesh: 9.70 lakh
Bombay HC: 3.44 lakh
Calcutta HC: 3.29 lakh.

Subordinate judiciary
2.67 crore on March 31,2009
2.78 crore on June 30,2010