More than 70K judges needed to clear pending cases, says CJI

Continuing to express concern over low judge-population ratio in the country, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur on Sunday said access to justice was a fundamental right and governments cannot afford to deny it to the people.

After an emotional outburst over the issue in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a conference in New Delhi recently, the CJI once again raised the matter while addressing a large gathering of legal luminaries here on the occasion of centennial celebrations of the circuit bench of the High Court. “While we (judiciary) remain keen to ensure that judges’ appointments are made quickly, the machinery involved with the appointment of judges continue to grind very slowly,” Justice Thakur said, adding 

around 170 proposals for appointment of HC judges were now pending with the government.

Noting that the matter was brought to the notice of the Prime Minister recently with a plea to make the appointments quickly, he said people cannot be denied justice. “Access to justice is a fundamental right and the government cannot afford to deny the people their fundamental right,” he said.