Acute shortage of judges has slowed down wheels of justice

Ahna Prakash| NT
Bengaluru

An acute shortage of judges in Karnataka courts is badly affected the justice delivery system in the state, with people being forced to wait for years for the disposal of their cases. According to data provided by The National Judicial Data Grid, there are 21 lakh cases pending in Karnataka courts, and out of that 18.9 lakh are in lower courts and 2.5 lakh in the high court.

For the public, who file cases in courts to get their grievance redressed, this only means a long wait for hearings and later the verdict. Harish, a resident of Kengeri, had filed a suit at the High Court, against his brother over ownership rights for the property left by their deceased father. Little did he know that the case would run for over a decade. “I have lost all hope, and I don’t know why I still go to the court,” says Harish.

Harish’s case, however, is not unique. Thousands of such cases are piling up every year in the high court. The data for the high court also shows that 1,626 cases have been pending for 20-30 years, while 172 for more than 30 years. On the eve of the World Day for International Justice (July 17), News Trail spoke to lawyers and judges regarding pending cases. Most of them stated that judicial vacancy is the primary reason behind many pending cases.

Senior advocate Nagappa said, “The court is suffering from a severe lack of judges, due to which hearings of most cases keep dragging on for many years. Some civil cases have been going on for more than 20 years.” Some advocates say that the vacancies create more pressure on existing judges apart from the pending cases.

B.S. Patil, a former judge at the Karnataka High Court and currently the Upa-Lokayukta of Karnataka, recalls the time when he used to work nonstop from 10.30 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon. “I used to start working in the morning and finish late. But still, there were so many cases pending. There was always somebody waiting at my gate and asking for their case to be heard,” he said.

Before Patil joined as Upa-Lokayukta, he says his post was vacant for four months. “More cases keep on coming. The cases keep piling up. It feels like a loop. The work never ends,” he added. The Karnataka high court has a sanctioned strength of 62 judges, and about 36 per cent of the posts are still vacant. A parliamentary committee report found that it has become difficult to fill these vacancies, as senior lawyers don’t want to take over the roles of judges in higher courts.

A lawyer, who does not wish to be named, also observed that many lawyers might not be interested in becoming judges because there are more financial benefits if they continue as advocates or are doing corporate law.Another advocate, Nagesh, opines that retirement and transfer are two primary reasons behind the acute shortage of judges. “Many judges had retired last year, and some were transferred to different states, adding to the vacancies,” he added.