TMI Blog2017 (1) TMI 1504X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and L. Nageswara Rao For the Appearing Parties: Maninder Singh, ASG, Ranjit Rao, Ajay Bansal, V. Madhukar, Mukesh K. Giri, Suryanarayana Singh, Edward Belho, AAGs, Vibha Dutta Makhija, A. Mariarputham, Sr. Advs., Ajay Kumar Singh, Sameer Kumar Tiwari, T.A. Khan, Sadhna Sandhu, Disha Vaish, M.K. Maroria, D.S. Mahra, B.V. Balaram Das, Aruna Mathur, Yusuf Khan, Avneesh Arputham, Anuradha Arputham, Abhisth Kumar, Abhishek Kumar Singh, Sudeep Kumar, Gaurav Yadav, Anvita Cowshish, Kuldip Singh, S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Gopal Singh, Shivam Singh, Varsha Poddar, J.K. Bhatia, Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, Pragati Neekhra, Annam D.N. Rao, Annam Venkatesh, Sudipto Sircar, Rahul Mishra, Abhinav Goyal, Kaushak Sindhu, Guntur Prabhakar, Prerna Singh, Joseph Aristotle S., Priya Aristotle, K. Priyadarshini, Bharat Sangal, Vernika Tomar, Vidushi Garg, S. Spandana Reddy, Krishnanand Pandeya, Tapesh Kumar Singh, Mohd. Waquas, Aditya Pratap Singh, Mahaling Pandarge, Nishant Katneshwarkar, Ravindra Chingale, Kshatrshal Raj, K. Enatoli Sema, Amit Kumar Singh, K. Luikang Michael, Elix Gangmei, Hematika Wahi, Puja Singh, Aagam Kaur, C.K. Sasi, Manikrushnan, Ashok K. Srivastava, Aniruddha P. Mayee, A. Selvin Raj ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ring the course of the hearing of these proceedings, the Union Government has been impleaded as a party to the proceedings having regard to the fact that seminal issues are involved directly impacting upon the administration of justice. This Court has assumed jurisdiction since the long delays in the disposal of cases, particularly criminal cases, has a serious impact both on the Rule of law and on access to justice which is a fundamental right guaranteed Under Article 21 of the Constitution. 4. In 1958, the fourteenth Report of the Law Commission of India on the Reform of Judicial Administration dealt with the issue of delay and arrears and identified inadequate judge strength as the root cause of the problem. This perspective has been reiterated in several successive reports, including of the Law Commission. These include the 77th Report of the Law Commission of India on Delay and arrears in trial courts , November, 1978 (Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India); 78th Report of the Law Commission of India on Congestion of under trial prisoners in jails , February, 1979 (Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India); 79th Report of the Law Commission of India o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d the views of the Law Commission in its 120th Report and directed that a judge to population ratio of fifty judges per million be achieved within a period of five years and not later than ten years in any case. This Court observed: The increase in the Judge strength to 50 Judges per 10 lakh people should be effected and implemented with the filling up of the posts in phased manner to be determined and directed by the Union Ministry of Law, but this process should be completed and the increased vacancies and posts filled within a period of five years from today. Perhaps increasing the Judge strength by 10 per 10 lakh people every year could be one of the methods which may be adopted thereby completing the first stage within five years before embarking on further increase if necessary. The Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Arrears in Courts (2002) supported the application of the demographic norm as the starting point for determination of judge strength. In a letter dated 2 April 2013, the then Prime Minister of India also accepted the recommendation of the Chief Justice of India to double the existing number of courts. When this issue was taken up at the Joint ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... data from the National Crime Records Bureau, the report notes that the present strength of judicial officers is able to complete trial in approximately thirteen per cent of cases brought for trial under the Indian Penal Code during each year. The ratio of cases brought for trial to the number of cases in which trial is completed stands close to the figure of seven over the past five years. 10. During the course of the hearing, the Union Government has fairly dealt with the issues which have been debated in the case in a non-adversarial manner, accepting that access to justice is a constitutional right. Initially, in the counter affidavit on behalf of the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, reference was made to the measures which were adopted by the Government to secure speedy justice and reduce delays. Among them were the following: I. Appointment of Court Managers in High Courts and Sub-ordinate Courts. II. Vision Statement and Action Plan adopted by the National Consultation for Strengthening the Judiciary towards Reducing Pendency and Delays. III. Preparation of National Arrears Grid. IV. National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms. V. National and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... method, the Law Commission seeks to address two concerns: i) the large existing backlog of cases; and ii) the number of judges required to ensure that new filings are disposed of in such a manner that a further backlog is not created. The expression backlog is defined as the difference between institution and disposal of cases. The Law Commission has set down a goal of ensuring that there are no pending cases at the end of each review period. The rate of disposal method suggested by the Law Commission can best be explained from the following extract of its final report of February 2014: For the present, and based on the information we currently have, the Commission has used the Rate of Disposal Method to calculate the number of additional judges required to clear the backlog of cases as well as to ensure that new backlog is not created. Under this method, two concerns are addressed: (a) There is a large existing backlog of cases and (b) New cases are being instituted daily which are adding to the backlog.. In order to address both these concerns, we use the Rate of Disposal Method to provide for two sets of judges: (a) Number of judges required to dispose of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (defined as all cases pending before that cadre of judges for more than a year) is then divided by the rate of disposal for that type of judge. This gave us the number of judges required to clear the backlog within a year. Dividing this number by 2 gives the number of judges required to clear the backlog in 2 years, and so forth. Therefore, the formula for determining the Additional Number of Judges for Breakeven can be represented as follows: Where, BEJ= Additional No. of Judges required to Break Even. AI= Average Institution ARD= Average Rate of Disposal D2010, D2011, D2012 = Annual Disposal for that year J2010, J2011, J2012 = Annual Working Strength of Judges for that year J= Current Working Strength of Judges The formula for determining the Number of Judges for disposing of Backlog required to dispose of pending cases within a given time period is: Where, AJBk= No. of Judges for disposing of Backlog B= Backlog, defined as the number of cases pending for more than a year. t= The time frame, in number of years, within which the backlog needs to be cleared. 12. The Law Commission has noted that in the past, it was suggested that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... igue start impairing the quality of working; v) Merely focusing upon the reduction of backlog is not adequate since what is required is a scientific method to assess the judge strength needed to deal with the backlog as well as the flow of new cases. 14. NCMSC has suggested that the clearance of backlog is not the sole or central basis for determining judge strength. Several other critical parameters include (i) rate of case clearance: the number of cases disposed of as a percentage of institution; (ii) on time disposal rate - the percentage of cases resolved within an established time frame; (iii) pre-trial custody periods wherein an under-trial is in custody pending trial of a criminal case; and (iv) trial date certainty - the proportion of important case processing provisions that are held according to the Schedule finalized. Professor Dr G Mohan Gopal suggests that the rate of disposal method does not make a substantial departure from past approaches that have not yielded desired results. 15. The Chairperson of NCMSC has proposed an interim approach which augments the disposal rate method of the Law Commission with the prevailing unit system of the High Courts to attri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e. iv. Trigger for creation of new courts 36. When for any court, the total number of units required to be disposed annually ( breakeven plus backlog, if any) is greater than 1.5 times the disposal norm for a very good performance judge, a new court would need to be created. 16. While evaluating the limitations of the rate of disposal method suggested by the Law Commission which have been noted in the report submitted by the Chairperson, NCMSC, certain aspects would have to be borne in mind. The criticism that the rate of disposal method places an incentive on lower disposals in certain courts has its own limitations. A lower rate of disposal may not necessarily reflect upon the efficiency with which a judge has conducted the court. Trials are held up because of a paucity of public prosecutors. Witnesses cited by the state, particularly police personnel, remain absent on dates fixed for trial, resulting in delays. Service of summons is delayed because of the laxity of police. In several northern states, particularly, the State of Uttar Pradesh soaring summer temperatures have in the absence of basic infrastructural facilities including continuous power supply resulted i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sary to ensure that a backlog does not result in the future as a result of an increase in annual filings. The rate of increase in future filings has to be anticipated. Anticipation of what the future holds is an estimate. One method of estimating the extent of the increase in future filings is to have regard to the increase reflected over a comparable period in the past for which data is available. Those figures can be extrapolated to determine the increase in annual filings. The enhancement in the strength of the district judiciary should be such that a 'five plus zero' pendency is achieved (wiping out the backlog within a target period of five years). 19. In response to the recommendations submitted by the Chairperson, NCMSC, an affidavit has been filed on behalf of the Union of India in the Ministry of Law and Justice. The Union government has stated that while it is broadly in agreement with this approach, the methodology suggested by NCMSC can be adopted subject to certain stipulations. The relevant part of the response is extracted below: 6. The Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India is broadly in agreement with the recommendations made by NCMS Committ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nadequate and insufficient to meet even the existing judge strength. Hence, a scientific assessment of the required judge strength will form the basis of ensuring that the state governments put into place the infrastructure required for tackling judicial delays. 21. By an order of this Court dated 29 November 2016, this Court had permitted the Union government to place on the record the following information in regard to funds made available by the Fourteenth Finance Commission for meeting the needs of the state judiciary and the modalities for disbursement and utilisation: i) Whether any break-up of the said allocation has been provided for by the Finance Commission and/or Government of India or any guidelines as to the areas in which the said amount will be expended. ii) In case such a break-up is prescribed, a copy of the communication/order under which the same has been provided be placed on record. iii) What is the manner by which the Government of India proposes to monitor the utilization of the amount set apart for judiciary by the States. State wise allocation be also indicated. In pursuance of these directions, an affidavit has been filed on behalf of the Un ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ss made be reviewed in State Court Management System meetings and quarterly progress reports be forwarded to the Supreme Court for review by National Court Management System. Thereafter, in the Conference of Chief Justices and Chief Ministers, the following resolution was adopted: With a view to facilitate proper and timely utilization of funds made available by the 14th Finance Commission to the State judiciaries, it was resolved that: (i) Finance Secretaries of each State be associated with the work of the High Court committees in-charge of monitoring 14th Finance Commission funds; (ii) Proper coordination be ensured between the Central and State Governments in regard to the submission of utilization certificates in relation to infrastructure projects of the state judiciaries; (iii) In respect of the e-Court Scheme and Infrastructure scheme which are being monitored by the Department of Justice, intimations of funds remitted to the State Governments under these two Schemes shall also be forwarded by the Department of Justice to the High Courts. (iv) State Governments shall (i) lend such assistance to the High Courts as is required for proper utilization of 14th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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