Unfilled judicial vacancies major reason for pendency of cases: CJI NV Ramana

Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Saturday said that the non-filling up of judicial vacancies by the government was the major reason for the pendency of cases.

Taking a dig at the Centre government for the huge pendency of cases in the Indian judiciary, Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana on Saturday said that not non-filling of judicial vacancies by the government is the major cause of pendency of cases.

The response of CJI came after the address of Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju at the All India Legal Services Authorities’ meet at Jaipur. CJI Ramana said, "It is my responsibility to react to one or two things which the Law Minister has mentioned. I am glad that he has taken up the issue of pendency.

"When we judges also go outside the country, we also face the same question. How many years will a case take place? You all know the reasons for pendency. I need not elaborate on that. I already indicated this at the last Chief Justices-Chief Ministers' conference. You all know the major important reason is the non-filling up of the judicial vacancies and not improving the judicial infrastructure," he said.

"The Judiciary is always ahead in trying to resolve all these issues. My only request is that the government has to take up the filling up of vacancies, as well as provide infrastructure. NALSA is the best model. It is a success story. So, on the same lines, we suggested a judicial infrastructure authority at the last Chief Justices' conference. Unfortunately, it was not taken up. However, I hope and trust that the issue will be revisited", CJI Ramana said.

CJI then cited the example of the National Legal Services Authority settling around 2 crore pre-litigating cases and 1 crore pending cases last year.

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Expressing concern over the high prison population, CJI said, "In India we have 6.1 lakh prisoners in 1378 prisons. They are indeed one of the most vulnerable sections of our society. Prisons are black boxes. Prisoners are often unseen, unheard citizens."