'40 mn cases in trial courts': Venugopal calls for steps to clear backlog

Attorney General K K Venugopal on Friday called for drastic measures to clear the huge pendency of cases and restore people's faith in the justice delivery system.

He said there are 40 million cases in the trial courts, while the high courts have 4.2 million civil cases and 1.6 million criminal cases.

"How is this that the justice delivery system has deteriorated to this extent? Something drastic has to be done," he said.

The question is with an average pendency of eight years in the trails courts and another eight years in the high courts, how would a litigant have confidence in the justice delivery system? Venugopal posed.

He also called for ensuring that an accused is not kept in jail during the trial for a period which may be awarded upon conviction.

The attorney general asked that if an undertrial, who has been in jail for the same number of years before he is convicted, wants to rake recourse for his human rights who should he go against?

"According to me it should be against the Government of India, states as well as the judicial system itself," he said at a reception held by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to honour Chief Justice of India N V Ramana and chief justices and acting chief justices of 25 high courts.

Venugopal also said that vacancies in the judiciary was a major issue and lawyers, judges and the state will have to get together to see what was possible.

SCBA president and senior advocate Vikas Singh said a large number of cases are pending for over 30 years.

He highlighted that jail inmates, 76 per cent of whom are undertrials, are poor people who cannot afford the means and hence rot in prison.

He also said that while judges have assumed power to appoint judges under the collegium system, which "comes with huge responsibility", they must form a search committee to look for suitable candidates, wherever they are.

"If the quality of judges does not improve, we as a democracy will give a wrong signal to the entire world," Singh said.

"I have no quarrel with the collegium system but when you assume the power to appoint judges it comes with huge responsibility and you look at names wherever they are. They can be in HC, a trial court or even in law firms," he said.

Singh said that last year the SCBA had suggested the CJI Ramana for appointment of Supreme Court lawyers as the judges in high courts, to which he agreed.

"We formed a search committee and recommended names. But why do we have to form this committee, why cannot the chief justices of High Courts form their own committee and find out who are eligible.

"It is the responsibility of the chief justices of High Courts to find out who practices in Supreme Court and who are doing well... Why cannot lady lawyers practising in Supreme Court be elevated in high courts," he asked.

The chief justices of all the 25 high courts are gathered in the national capital for the 39th chief justices' conference, being held after a gap of six years.

The conference will be followed by a joint conference of the chief ministers and the chief justices at the Vigyan Bhawan here on Saturday, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.