Number Of Court Halls In District Judiciary More Than Present Working Strength Of Judges But Less Than Sanctioned Strength: Law Ministry

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju stated that as per information made available by the High Courts, against sanctioned strength of 24,521 and working strength of 19,341 judges, presently 20,812 court halls (including 578 rented ones) and 18,338 residential units are available in the district and subordinate courts as on 31.03.2022. Moreover, 2,767 court halls and 1,651 residential units are under construction, he added.

He mentioned that the primary responsibility of development of infrastructure facilities for the judiciary rests with the State Governments. To augment the resources of the State Governments, the Union Government has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities in district and subordinate courts by providing financial assistance to State Governments / UTs in the prescribed fund sharing pattern, he stated.

Further, the Law Minister stated that till date, the Central Government has sanctioned Rs. 9,009 crore under the scheme to States/UTs, out of which Rs. 5,565 crore has been released since 2014-15 which is around 61.77% of the total release under the scheme. Under this scheme, funds are released by the Central Government for construction of court buildings and residential accommodations for judicial officers of district and subordinate judiciary, he added.

It was further disclosed that a proposal has been received from Chief Justice of India for setting up of National Judicial Infrastructure Authority of India (NJIAI) for arrangement of adequate infrastructure for courts, as per which there will be a Governing Body with Chief Justice of India as Patron-in-Chief. The same has been sent to the various State Government/UTs for their views.

The aforesaid information was provided in response to the questions raised by MP Abdul Wahab.

In response to another question regarding the vacancies in lower courts, It was also stated by the Law Minister that the cadre strength of judges in district and subordinate courts has increased from 19,518 in 2014 to 24,521 in April, 2022.