More than 70,000 Judges required to clear the pending Cases; Chief Justice Thakur

Access to Justice is a fundamental right and no government can afford to deny its people their fundamental right, he said

Chief Justice of India Justice TS Thakur today, while inaugurating the centenary celebrations of Orissa High Court at Cuttack, said that 'we require more than 70,000 judges to clear backlog of cases'.

“While the Law Commission of India in 1987 had suggested for having 44,000 judges to effectively tackle the then number of pending cases, the country today has only 18,000 judges. Thirty years down the line we continue to work with depleted strength. 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

“Access to Justice is a fundamental right and no government can afford to deny its people their fundamental right," "It's unfortunate that the machinery involved in appointment of judges continues to run very slowly," He added

He stated that around 170 proposals for appointment of High Court judges were now pending with the government.

“While we remain keen to ensure that judges’ appointments are made quickly, the machinery involved with the appointment of judges continue to grind very slowly,” He said

Last month, speaking at the Conference of Chief Justices and Chief Ministers , he made an emotional speech and said, “Judges’ strength has been put in cold storage for past three decades. You cannot blame the judiciary alone for the high number of pending cases. In some petitions, we have to dispose ourselves in extremely stressful conditions. I request your Government to address the issue”,