Lower courts longing for justice; 4 billion lawsuits are pending in India’s lowest courts. India is renowned for its diversity and is the largest democracy in the world; there, the judicial system of India is always recognized and any legal dispute is resolved in court thanks to public confidence in it. But as time goes on, more and more instances that are still ongoing in court are being discussed.
The lack of judges is thought to be the main causes of the delayed justice due to large number of cases that are still pending, which increases the workload for the judiciary.
About pending cases in court
The Union Law Minister said that India’s number of pending cases is gradually approaching the 5-crore threshold.
The country’s backlog of cases was mostly due to the lack of filling judicial vacancies and inadequate judicial infrastructure.
Chief Justice of India N V Ramana
All these situations are causing delayed or in some cases no justice. Concerns concerning the selection of judges are very prevalent. The issue with the subordinate courts, which are under the control of state governments and High Courts, is not sufficiently brought to light. These openings are critical since there are around 4.1 million open cases in these courts. Approximately 5,300 seats in the lower judiciary are now empty, which represents more than 20% of its capacity. When it comes to the appointment of lower courts, different governments follow different processes and thus experience distinct issues and the reason behind this is lack of judges in our judicial system.
Reason behind the pending cases
The judiciary is responsible for resolving any issues that are still ongoing in the courts; the courts have not set a deadline for resolving any particular type of case.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju
As per a report by The Economic Times, the timely resolution of cases in court depends on a number of variables, including, among others, the availability of an adequate number of judges and judicial officers, supporting court personnel and physical infrastructure, complexity of the facts involved, nature of the evidence, cooperation of stakeholders, including the bar, investigation agencies, witnesses, and litigants, and proper application of rules and procedures.
People with knowledge of the matter claimed that there are several issues with the entire hiring procedure. Problems come at every level. Exams may occasionally not take place. Results are not always made public. Letters of appointment are occasionally not sent out. If appointment letters are given out, it can take some time for police verification.
Insufficient candidates
In Tamil Nadu experienced a similar situation in 2019. None of the approximately 3,500 attorneys who took the district judge exams passed. The applicants claimed that this outcome was caused by irrelevant exam questions and negative marking, nevertheless.
Many individuals are suffering as a result of all these open cases, even if we may not be aware of it. In order to address this issue, the government must treble the number of judges and establish an all-India judicial service.
