Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh short of 298 judges; over 13 lakh cases pending

With 39 judges short of the sanctioned strength in the High Court, there are 132 less judges in Haryana district courts and 127 in district courts of Punjab. Whereas the sanctioned strength of High Court judges is 85, for Haryana district courts it is 644 and for Punjab district courts it is 674. Judicial officers in Chandigarh district courts are posted on deputation from Punjab and Haryana district courts.

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While the High Court has a pendency of 2,84,746 cases (2,03,288 civil and 81,458 criminal), as many as 5,13,708 cases (2,45,443 civil and 2,68,265 criminal) are pending in Punjab district courts and 5,30,642 (2,34,223 civil and 2,96,419 criminal) in district courts across Haryana.

For the last one year, there has been no appointment of judges in the High Court. Justice Ramendra Jain, then legal remembrancer and administrative secretary of law and legislative department of the Haryana government, was the last judge to be elevated to the High Court on April 20, 2015. At that time, the High Court had a strength of 54 judges, which has now reduced to 46 due to retirement and transfer of judges to other high courts.

Chief Justice of India Tirath Singh Thakur on April 24, while speaking at the Annual Chief Ministers and Chief Justices Conference in New Delhi, made an emotional appeal to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clear appointment of high court judges as recommendation of 169 judges is still pending with the Centre.

Comparing the work pressure on judges in India with that of the United States, the Chief Justice had remarked that in United States Supreme Court, a Bench comprises nine judges and decides only 81 cases in a year. Whereas in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, on an average, every judge has a disposal rate of over 100 cases per month and every judge hears an average of 50 cases per day. On Monday, for instance, as many as 87 cases were listed for hearing before the division bench comprising Justices AK Mittal and Raj Rahul Garg.

Though during the Sunday conference, an unanimous decision was taken to avail the services of retired high court judges on an adhoc basis as an exceptional measure till the appointments of High Court judges are stalled, but this has come as a setback for the senior judges of the state superior judicial services who are awaiting their elevation and are left with less time to retire.

When contacted, one such judge said, “It is understandable that for selecting judges from advocates, a number of verifications are needed. But the system knows about the performance and antecedents of judges from superior judicial services. There should be no problem in clearing their names.”

Justice J C Verma, retired judge of the Rajasthan High Court, is of the view, “Best judges out of state superior judicial services should be definitely promoted and even retired High Court judges would also be ready to serve.”

Regarding filling up of the posts of judicial officers in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh district courts, one of the senior high vourt officers privy to the selection process, informed The Indian Express, “Though we have been issuing advertisements for filling up of judicial officers’ posts but to our dismay we have not been able to get the quality candidates with desired standards and seats are left vacant. Hence re-advertisements are issued.”