Chief Justice of India TS Thakur on Sunday broke down at a meeting in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, lamenting the government’s “inaction” in increasing the number of judges from the present 21,000 to 40,000 to handle the “avalanche” of litigations.
Thakur went to say, “You cannot shift the entire burden on the judiciary”.
“Nothing has moved” since 1987 when the Law Commission had recommended an increase in the number of judges from 10 judges per 10 lakh people to 50, an unusually emotional Thakur said.
“Then comes inaction by the government as the increase (in the strength of judges) does not take place,” he said in a choked voice while addressing the inaugural session of Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts in Delhi.
He said if constitutional barriers do not create any problems, then top ministers and senior Supreme Court judges can sit together in a closed room to find a solution to the issue.
As of today, the judge-to-people ratio stands at 15 judges to 10 lakh people which is way less than as compared to the US, Australia, the UK and Canada.
The CJI also spoke of the “tug-of-war” that goes on between the Centre and the states over funding, infrastructure, and other issues.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)