State of Indian Judiciary: Rising pendency of cases and workload of judges

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Between 25 million and 30 million cases are estimated to be pending across the Supreme Court, 21 high courts and the subordinate courts. The economic cost of the delay, according to the State of Indian Judiciary, is pegged at 0.5% of gross domestic product.

One of the reasons attributed to the high pendency rate of cases is the growing number of vacancies in judicial positions. In fact, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur on Monday expressed disappointment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not make any mention about judges' appointment during his Independence Day address.

"I want to tell the Prime Minister only one thing, you remove poverty, create employment, bring schemes, etc, but also think about justice for the countrymen," he said at an event where Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was also present. The Supreme Court had earlier expressed displeasure at the Centre for non-execution of the collegium's decision to transfer and appoint chief justices and judges in high courts.