Present times witnessing belligerent and reckless behaviour by certain individuals, says CJI

Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi on Sunday said that the 'strong traditions and ethos' of our judicial institutions will help us overcome the present times that are witnessing 'belligerent and reckless behaviour' by certain individuals and groups.

"It is unfortunate that present times are witnessing belligerent and reckless behaviour by a few individuals and some groups. However, I am hopeful that such incidents would turn out to be exceptions," he said after laying the foundation stone of an auditorium of the Guwahati High Court.

While expressing confidence in the country's legal systems he said that "the strong traditions and ethos of our institutions shall always assist the stakeholders to display resilience to overcome the belligerence of such wayward constituents."

He also pointed out that more than 20 lakh civil cases and over 1 crore criminal cases are pending at the summoning stage.

"Out of about 90 lakh civil cases in the country, more than 20 lakh are pending at the summoning stage and out of 2 crore 10 lakh criminal cases, over 1 crore cases are pending at summoning stage," he said.

The CJI cited the cause of the pending cases to the insufficiency of judges in the Supreme Court and wrote to Prime Minister Modi regarding the same.

"After SC took upon itself to fill up 6000 vacancies of trial judges, it appears to me that about 4000 of these vacancies have been filled up," Gogoi said.

"About 1500 vacancies will be filled by the end of November or end of December" he added.