With filling of all
the 2216 vacancies of judges in the subordinate courts and all
the 1734 Fast Track Courts becoming fully functional during 2002-2003
as per the directions of the Supreme Court contained in the Judges
Case early this year, a total of 3950 additional courts will get
added to the present number of 11242 courts to make 35 per cent
more additional courts.
As against the sanctioned
strength of 13458 presiding officers of subordinate courts, 11242
presiding officers are in position with a total vacancies of 2216
judges.
The State wise vacancies
are 63 in Andhra Pradesh followed by 54 in Assam, 197 in Bihar,
5 in Goa, 55 in Gujarat, 33 in Haryana, 5 in Himachal Pradesh,
15 in Jammu & Kashmir, 57 in Karnataka, 1 in Kerala, 138 in
Madhya Pradesh, 129 in Maharashtra, 4 in Manipur, 1 in Meghalaya,
14 in Mizoram, 79 in Orissa, 22 in Punjab, 127 in Rajasthan, 3
in Sikkim, 68 in Tamil Nadu, 19 in Tripura, 544 in Uttar Pradesh,
81 in West Bengal, 191 in Delhi, 5 in Pondichery, 163 in Jharkhand,
15 in Chhattisgarh and 128 in Uttaranchal.
The pendency of cases
in subordinate courts, which has stabilized around 2.4 crores,
will get reduced considerably with the filling of all the existing
vacancies and cases expedited now that the Supreme Court has upheld
the constitutional validity of the amendments effected in the
Civil Procedure Code, 1908, which have been enforced with effect
from July 1, 2002.
