Supreme Court Directs Law Secretaries Of All States To Give Details Of Funds Disbursed For Judiciary From 2017-2022

Expressing concerns at the lack of proper judicial infrastructure in many states, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Law Secretaries of all State Governments to file affidavits relating to budget allocation and utilization.

A bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant has sought the following information from Law Secretaries of all States :

• The extent of funds which have been made available to state on centrally sponsored schemes
• Amount disbursed by the state government for the state and District judiciary
• Amount which remains to be provided to the state and district judiciary and were diverted to other projects
• Details of utilization certificate from the financial year 2017-18 to 2021-22.

The Court also directed the Registrar Generals of all High Courts to respond within 4 weeks to the note submitted by the Amicus Curiae regarding the infrastructure and strength of Judges in each of the respective States or the Union Territories.

"With regards to judicial infracure, the things are not ideal at ground level the way they have been provided. In some states there are but in some states basic amenities are not available. Not only for the judicial officers but also for the litigants," Justice Surya Kant remarked during the hearing.

During the hearing, Amicus Curiae and Senior Advocate Vibha Datta Makhija referred to her supplementary note to give suggestions for adoption of modalities to attend to the infrastructural needs of the judiciary.

"There should be a member from the HC committee who is part of the central monitoring level committee or state monitoring level committee. Problem that is arisen is the implementation of the centrally sponsoring scheme," she submitted.

She also highlighted the problem related to the sanctioned strength of judges.

"We also have to pay attention to the suggestions made by Justice Sikri. There are very small percentages which have not been filled in the judiciary. Problem is the number and sanction strength of judges. 21 judges for 1 million people and this is the abysmal numbe," she said.

Senior Counsel also urged the bench to direct the High Courts to assess the vacancies as per the NCMS formula which determines the basis for computing the required judge strength of the district judiciary.

Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj apprised the bench on various aspects such as pendency of cases in the country, vacancies of manpower in the courts, number of judicial officer posted for non-judicial work.

Laying emphasis on judicial officers being diverted for non judicial work, ASG said, "Nearly 2000 judicial officers are posted for non-judicial work. This is one of the main concerns which are to be addressed. About 2000 judicial officers work elsewhere. 1869 officers are otherwise engaged."

Responding to the submissions made by ASG, Justice Kant said that the Top Court had appointed people with MBA degrees as Court Managers but practical difficulties arose.

"Concept of court managers has miserably failed and has not worked. On experience basis, court managers were appointed some years back. There were practical problems and we had appointed court managers who were MBA's and engineers but they didn't know a lot of things. There were practical difficulties. So judicial officers are required to be appointed," Justice Kant said.

Justice Chandrachud at this juncture said that it would ask the States to respond as to how much they have spent from the centrally sponsored scheme on the judiciary since 5 years.

Thus, the bench, while seeking the response on various aspects, adjourned the matter for the first week of September. It also said that it would first take up the issue related to determination of strength of judges owing to the existence of a scientific methodology evolved by the National Court Management Systems Committee (NCMSC).

Case Title: Imtiaz Ahmad v State of Uttar Pradesh 

Citation : 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 636

Judicial Infrastructure - Supreme Court directs the Law Secretaries of all State Governments to file affidavits relating to budget allocation and utilization