NEW DELHI: Long-winded judgments, unpunctual judges and vacancies are among the 29 reasons for the huge backlog of 30 million cases in various courts across the country, Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj said here yesterday.
“We are grappling with the problem of pendency,” Bharadwaj said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha, all but admitting that the government could do precious little in this.
“I have no power to tell a judge to write a short judgment or this or that,” the minister said, adding: “A judge and his judicial conviction determine a judgment. I can’t whisper in his ear. A judge is left to function on his own.”
Asked about the enforcing authority to ensure judges’ punctuality, Bharadwaj replied: “The quest (for a solution) is on for years. Like parliamentarians, judges should assemble well in time...”
This led to the question being asked again and the minister retorted: “Please do not disturb me. The authority is the chief justice (of the high courts and the Supreme Court). The government has no authority to interfere. We can only tell them about the anguish of parliamentarians (on this issue).”
As for the vacancies, Bhardawaj pointed to the fact that there were 21 high courts across the country and “joint effort by all concerned” was required to fill the empty posts.
Pointing to the Allahabad High Court that had a sanctioned strength of 160 judges but was far short of that number, Bharadwaj said: “I have received recommendations for appointing only 20 judges and even if I accept these, there will still be a vacancy of 70 judges.”
“In our federal structure, we can only politely remind the high courts (to send their recommendations),” the minister contended. Replying to a supplementary on the steps being taken to deal with the large number of cases relating to dishonored checks that were “choking” the judicial system, he admitted that such cases “had, of late, harmed the system”.
He also said that the system of fast track courts that the previous government had introduced for a five-year period had been extended till 2010.
