Southern states lead ranking on justice system, Karnataka retains top slot

Andhra Pradesh rises to second place from fifth last year; Telangana keeps third position: India Justice Report 2025

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana took the top three slots in an annual ranking of states’ capacity to deliver justice, noting “shifting dynamics” in their performance.

 

Karnataka retained its top position in the India Justice Report (IJR) 2025, retaining the rank it held last year. IJR ranks states on their capacity in policing, judiciary, prisons and legal aid. Andhra Pradesh is second, after coming fifth last year. Telangana, eleventh in 2019, retained its third position.

 

Historically strong performers like Kerala and Tamil Nadu experienced minor fluctuations but remained in the top five, the report said. Mid-tier states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha have shown steady, gradual improvement.

 

Maharashtra declined from its previously held top position, and Gujarat and Punjab exhibited “inconsistent performances”, said the report.

 

States in the bottom tier, such as Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, have largely maintained their positions with minor shifts, the report said. Uttar Pradesh improved one rung from the bottom to put Bengal in last place.

 

"Overall, these changes underscore the shifting dynamics of state performance, shaped by evolving governance, economic policies and other influencing factors," the report said.

 

Small states show mixed performance

 

Small states had a mix of trends in delivering justice. Sikkim retained its top position. Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura occupy the middle ground, but Meghalaya, Mizoram and Goa show a dip in their most recent rankings to fifth, sixth and seventh places, respectively.

 

The report said there has been a steady growth in investments to strengthen the structural capacity of the justice delivery system across all key institutions. "Budget allocations have risen, with judiciary per capita expenditure improving, and gender diversity within the lower judiciary and police has shown an upward trend as it has among legal aid secretaries and paralegal volunteers."

 

Human resource capacity has seen some progress, with judicial vacancies reducing in select states and forensic staffing receiving renewed attention. Infrastructure improvements include reducing the deficits in court halls and technology being used to fill critical gaps, the report said.

 

Despite rising workloads, subordinate courts have improved case clearance rates, urban police stations have increased in number, and targeted interventions in prisons — such as expanded legal aid, video conferencing and open prisons — are creating more avenues for decongestion and reform.

 

Only 15 judges per million population

 

There are only 15 judges per million population in the country, a far cry from the Law Commission’s recommendation of 50 judges per million population, the report said.

 

"For 1.4 billion people, India has 21,285 judges, or approximately 15 judges per million population. This continues to be significantly below the 1987 Law Commission’s recommendation of 50 judges per million population," said the 2025 India Justice Report.

 

While the vacancies in high courts stood at 33 per cent of the total sanctioned strength, the report claimed 21 per cent vacancies in 2025, indicating a high workload for the existing judges.

 

"Nationally, in the district courts, the average workload is 2,200 cases per judge. In the Allahabad and Madhya Pradesh high courts, the caseload per judge amounts to 15,000," the report said.

 

Women judges increase

 

The overall share of women judges, the report said, in the district judiciary increased from 30 per cent in 2017 to 38.3 per cent, and it increased from 11.4 per cent to 14 per cent in the high courts in 2025.

 

"There is a higher share of women judges in the district courts as compared to the high courts and the Supreme Court. Currently, there is only one woman chief justice across the 25 high courts," the report said.

 

The report said Delhi district courts were among judicial branches with the lowest vacancies in the country, at 11 per cent, and in which women comprised 45 per cent of judges.

 

"In the district judiciary, only five per cent of judges belong to scheduled tribes and 14 per cent are from scheduled castes. Of the 698 high court judges appointed since 2018, only 37 judges are from SC and ST categories," it added.

 

The overall representation of other backward classes in the judiciary was 25.6 per cent, the report said.

 

The national per capita spend on legal aid was Rs 6.46 per annum, whereas the national per capita spend on the judiciary stood at Rs 182, it added.

 

"No state spends more than one per cent of its total annual expenditure on the judiciary," the report claimed.

 

High pendency of cases

 

Underlining the pendency of cases, it said, "Barring Karnataka, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Tripura, one in every two cases has been pending for more than three years in all high courts."

 

The report added, "At the district courts in Andaman and Nicobar, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, over 40 per cent of all cases have been pending for over three years."

 

One in every five cases, the report said, has been pending for more than five years in Delhi, and two per cent have been pending for more than 10 years.

 

"Each district court judge in Delhi had an average workload of 2,023 cases in 2024, an increase from 1,551 in 2017, and lower than the national average of 2,200. It could achieve a case clearance rate of 78 per cent in 2024, one of the lowest in the country. Between 2017 and 2024, Delhi has achieved a 100 per cent case clearance rate only once, in 2023," the report said.

 

A release said the report was initiated by Tata Trusts in 2019, and the fourth edition of the report was in collaboration with the Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, TISS–Prayas, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, and How India Lives.

 

Women in police

 

The report also reveals that there are fewer than 1,000 women in senior positions among the 20.3 lakh personnel in the police force.

 

Not a single state or Union territory has met its own reserved quotas for women in the police, according to the report.

 

The report also noted that Uttar Pradesh has the most overcrowded prisons, adding that more than half of the high court judges are missing in the state. It said that 91 per cent of Delhi’s prison population consisted of undertrials.

 

Tamil Nadu retained its top position in managing prisons, with increased budget allocation and 100 per cent utilisation. The state has among the lowest staff vacancies in prisons nationwide, it stated, adding that with 22 inmates per officer, it has the best officer workload among all large states.