Governments Can’t Deny People Their Fundamental Rights: CJI

CUTTACK: Chief Justice of India TS Thakur on Sunday said the shortage of judges had become a challenge for the judiciary to deliver justice in the country now.

 Inaugurating the centenary celebration of Orissa High Court Circuit Bench here, he said the governments cannot deny the people access to justice, which is their fundamental right.

He said that out of some 900 sanctioned posts of judges in different High Courts, there are over 450 vacancies, and that need to be fulfilled immediately.

He said the country today has only 18,000 judges against the recommendation of the Law Commission of India in 1987, which had suggested for having 44,000 judges to manage the then pending cases.

“If you go by the number of people that have been added to the population, we may now require more than 70,000 judges to clear the pending cases,” he said.

He said the number of judges must be increased against the increasing population in the country.

Notably, the Supreme Court Chief Justice had broken down in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a meeting recently over the shortage of judges, where he had said that case are piling up, and there are not enough judges to hear them.