Lack of infrastructure in judiciary responsible for backlog of cases: CJ

Blaming rise in population for an increase in the number of cases, Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir on Saturday said infrastructure and matching facilities are not up to the mark to address the problem.

While speaking to the media at Khalsa College in Amritsar, where he laid the foundation of a new building of Khalsa College of Law, Kabir said: "The problem according to me is the rise in population. If there are more number of people, there would be more cases. As soon as the number rises, cases also rise. Simply increasing the number of judges won't do. You have to provide the necessary facilities for the purpose of having more judges."

Citing the example of Allahabad High Court, he said the court functions with "80-odd judges" against the sanctioned strength of 168 judges. Kabir pointed out that even if the remaining vacancies were filled, there was not enough place for all the judges.

"Alternate dispute resolution mechanism was the answer to the burden on judiciary and the same was being popularised in the forms of lok adalats, mediation and conciliation. The mechanism was showing good results," Kabir said. In this mechanism, solving one case can have a similar cascading effect on five other related cases, he added.

While handing over an appointment letter to a transgender in Khalsa College for a job in Punjab State Legal Services Authority, Kabir said: "Transgenders are coming out of the shells. They want to get recognised."

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