New Delhi: Newly appointed Law Minister Kiren Rijiju took charge of the ministry on Thursday amid grave concerns of rising pendency of cases in courts, which have crossed 4.5 crore on July 7 and huge vacancies in the three-tier judicial system. .
Officials say that the biggest challenge before Rijiju is to fill huge vacancies in the Supreme Court, 25 high Court and 24,000 subordinate courts. White Supreme court There are 21% vacancies of judges – Seven out of 34 sanctioned posts are currently vacant – 25 High Courts of the country have 41% vacancies with a record 449 posts of judges.
The situation is even worse in the subordinate and district judiciary where more than 5,000 posts of judicial officers are lying vacant for many years. The highest 3.9 crore cases are pending in subordinate and district courts and are a major concern for the government which is trying to improve India’s ranking. world Bank‘Ease of Doing Business’.
Soon after taking over the charge of the ministry, senior officials of the Law Ministry called on the minister. However, department-wise detailed meetings have been scheduled from Friday, when the minister will be apprised of the immediate challenges and ‘to do list’.
In view of the recent adverse orders of Supreme Court On judicial appointments, where the government has been given a deadline to complete all pending appointments, the newly appointed minister has to focus on the job and also win the trust of the higher judiciary.
In the past year and a half of the pandemic and the intermittent lockdown, the pendency of cases has increased from 3.2 crore as on July 1 to over 4.5 crore, most of them, with over 3.9 crore cases pending in subordinate jurisdictions. and district judiciary where connectivity has been one of the issues that has hindered the migration of regular courts to virtual hearings.
Rijiju spoke of bringing transparency in the working of his ministry and assured journalists to be fully in touch so that they are aware of what the ministry is doing and how it is working.
The minister said: “Everything can be handled with proper guidance, proper understanding of the subjects and application of the mind”. He said, to realize the Prime Minister’s vision of an Atmanirbhar Bharat, the country needs a strong legal system.
Officials say that the biggest challenge before Rijiju is to fill huge vacancies in the Supreme Court, 25 high Court and 24,000 subordinate courts. White Supreme court There are 21% vacancies of judges – Seven out of 34 sanctioned posts are currently vacant – 25 High Courts of the country have 41% vacancies with a record 449 posts of judges.
The situation is even worse in the subordinate and district judiciary where more than 5,000 posts of judicial officers are lying vacant for many years. The highest 3.9 crore cases are pending in subordinate and district courts and are a major concern for the government which is trying to improve India’s ranking. world Bank‘Ease of Doing Business’.
Soon after taking over the charge of the ministry, senior officials of the Law Ministry called on the minister. However, department-wise detailed meetings have been scheduled from Friday, when the minister will be apprised of the immediate challenges and ‘to do list’.
In view of the recent adverse orders of Supreme Court On judicial appointments, where the government has been given a deadline to complete all pending appointments, the newly appointed minister has to focus on the job and also win the trust of the higher judiciary.
In the past year and a half of the pandemic and the intermittent lockdown, the pendency of cases has increased from 3.2 crore as on July 1 to over 4.5 crore, most of them, with over 3.9 crore cases pending in subordinate jurisdictions. and district judiciary where connectivity has been one of the issues that has hindered the migration of regular courts to virtual hearings.
Rijiju spoke of bringing transparency in the working of his ministry and assured journalists to be fully in touch so that they are aware of what the ministry is doing and how it is working.
The minister said: “Everything can be handled with proper guidance, proper understanding of the subjects and application of the mind”. He said, to realize the Prime Minister’s vision of an Atmanirbhar Bharat, the country needs a strong legal system.
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