The India justice report 2022 flags, India has about 20,076 judges for a population of 1.4 billion. It indicates a vacancy of 22 percent among the sanctioned posts. 4.8 crore cases are pending in the courts.
Vacancy in the judiciary haunts
Among high courts, there is a 30 percent vacancy of judges, the India justice report says. Adding to this, only 13% of High Court judges and 35% of Subordinate Court judges are women.
The report said that in 28 states, one in every four high court cases is pending for more than five years. As of December 2022, India had only 19 judges per one million people, which falls behind the Law Commission’s 1987 target of reaching 50 judges per million population in a decade.
The report also brings to the forefront the current backlog of 4.8 crore cases in the judiciary. The India Justice Report (IJR) was initiated by TataTrusts in 2019.
India had only 19 judges per one million people.
The current backlog of 4.8 crore cases in the courts.
Key Findings
The prisons are over-occupied at over 130%. With more than two-thirds or 77.1% of the prisoners still awaiting the completion of the investigation or trial.
India’s justice system as a whole remains plagued by low budgets. Except for two union territories, Delhi and Chandigarh, no state spends more than 1 percent of its total annual expenditure on the judiciary
Around 25% of the police stations in India do not have a single CCTV.
The representation of women in prison staff is 13%. Despite this, the share of jails with video conferencing increased to 84% as opposed to the previous 60% in 2020.
The report highlights the issue of inadequate women representation in the police . It currently stands at 11.75%, despite its numbers doubling in the last decade.
About 29% of the officer positions are vacant%. The police-to-population ratio is 152.8 per lakh, whereas the international standard is 222, the report also mentions.
The police-to-population ratio is 152.8 per lakh, whereas the international standard is 222.
The quota for SC, ST, and OBC
On the subject of diversity, the IJR states that Karnataka remains the only state to consistently meet its quota for SC, ST, and OBC positions, both among Police officers and the constabulary. Whereas in the judiciary, at the Subordinate/District Court level, no state met all three quotas.
Only Gujarat and Chhattisgarh met their respective SC quotas. Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttarakhand
met their respective ST quotas.
