07/21/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/21/2022 01:50
National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms was set up in August, 2011 with the twin objectives of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears in the system and enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting performance standards and capacities. The Mission has been pursuing a co-ordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration, which, inter-alia, involves better infrastructure for courts including computerization, increase in strength of subordinate judiciary, policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to excessive litigation, re-engineering of court procedure for quick disposal of cases and emphasis on human resource development.
The major steps taken during the last eight years under various initiatives are as follows:
Twenty virtual courts have been set up in 16 States/UTs viz. Delhi (2), Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala (2), Maharashtra (2), Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir (2), Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura and West Bengal to try traffic offences. As on 03.03.2022, these courts have handled more than 1.69 crore cases and realized more than Rs. 271.48 crore in fines.
Video conferencing emerged as the mainstay of the courts during the Covid lockdown period as physical hearings and normal court proceedings in the congregational mode were not possible. Since Covid lockdown started, the District courts heard 1,28,76,549 cases while the High Court heard 63,76,561 cases (totalling 1.92 crore) till 30.04.2022 using video conferencing. The Supreme Court had 2,61,338 hearings since the lockdown period upto 13.06.2022.
As on |
Sanctioned Strength |
Working Strength |
31.12.2013 |
19,518 |
15,115 |
15.07.2022 |
24,631 |
19,289 |
However, filling up of vacancies in Subordinate judiciary falls within the domain of the State Governments and High Courts concerned.
(vii) In addition, to reduce pendency and unclogging of the courts, the Government has recently amended various laws like the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Commercial Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2018.
Annexure
Statement showing the releases made, State-wise, under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme and expenditure reported by the State Governments for the last 3 years.
Sl. No. |
State |
Release in 2019-20 |
Funds utilized for funds released during 2019-20 |
Release in 2020-21 |
Funds utilized for funds released during 2020-21 |
Release in 2021-22 |
Funds utilized for funds released during 2021-22 |
1 |
Andhra Pradesh |
20.00 |
20.00 |
10.28 |
7.46 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
2 |
Bihar |
87.62 |
87.62 |
65.72 |
3.32 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
3 |
Chhattisgarh |
19.83 |
19.83 |
7.84 |
7.84 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
4 |
Goa |
4.06 |
4.06 |
3.80 |
3.80 |
3.20 |
3.20 |
5 |
Gujarat |
16.49 |
16.49 |
13.50 |
7.25 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
6 |
Haryana |
14.06 |
14.06 |
22.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
7 |
Himachal Pradesh |
5.72 |
1.45 |
5.50 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
8 |
Jammu & Kashmir |
10.00 |
10.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
||
9 |
Jharkhand |
13.74 |
13.74 |
9.05 |
9.05 |
6.00 |
6.00 |
10 |
Karnataka |
44.04 |
44.04 |
29.72 |
0.00 |
27.00 |
0.00 |
11 |
Kerala |
15.82 |
15.82 |
13.00 |
13.00 |
50.00 |
0.00 |
12 |
Madhya Pradesh |
66.90 |
66.90 |
45.60 |
45.60 |
55.00 |
55.00 |
13 |
Maharashtra |
61.09 |
61.09 |
23.11 |
23.11 |
18.00 |
17.90 |
14 |
Odisha |
35.69 |
18.40 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
15 |
Punjab |
39.78 |
39.78 |
16.48 |
16.48 |
16.50 |
16.50 |
16 |
Rajasthan |
64.21 |
64.21 |
29.90 |
29.90 |
41.50 |
41.50 |
17 |
Tamilnadu |
38.71 |
38.71 |
18.17 |
18.17 |
35.66 |
0.00 |
18 |
Telangana |
5.65 |
5.65 |
16.00 |
14.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
19 |
Uttarakhand |
28.50 |
28.50 |
5.86 |
0.00 |
80.00 |
0.00 |
20 |
Uttar Pradesh |
169.66 |
169.66 |
111.00 |
111.00 |
219.00 |
118.50 |
21 |
West Bengal |
61.43 |
54.77 |
31.07 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
Total (A) |
823.00 |
794.78 |
477.60 |
309.97 |
551.86 |
258.60 |
|
NE States |
|||||||
Arunachal Pradesh |
2.69 |
2.69 |
5.00 |
5.00 |
4.09 |
0.93 |
|
Assam |
36.54 |
36.54 |
25.00 |
25.00 |
27.40 |
0.00 |
|
Manipur |
9.66 |
4.00 |
5.00 |
2.68 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
Meghalaya |
22.85 |
22.85 |
7.71 |
7.71 |
28.02 |
28.02 |
|
Mizoram |
5.24 |
5.24 |
5.00 |
5.00 |
9.50 |
4.50 |
|
Nagaland |
3.42 |
3.42 |
5.00 |
5.00 |
13.27 |
0.00 |
|
Sikkim |
2.78 |
2.78 |
2.95 |
0.68 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
Tripura |
18.82 |
8.97 |
7.74 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
Total (B) |
102.00 |
86.49 |
63.40 |
51.07 |
82.28 |
33.45 |
|
UTs |
|||||||
1 |
A & N Islands |
0.17 |
0.17 |
0.35 |
0.35 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
2 |
Chandigarh |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
3 |
Dadra & Nagar Haveli |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
4 |
Daman & Diu |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
5 |
Delhi |
48.52 |
48.52 |
45.00 |
45.00 |
30.00 |
19.43 |
6 |
Lakshadweep |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
7 |
Puducherry |
3.31 |
3.31 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
8 |
Jammu and Kashmir (UT) |
5.00 |
5.00 |
6.65 |
6.65 |
20.00 |
11.19 |
9 |
Ladakh |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
Total (C) |
57.00 |
57.00 |
52.00 |
52.00 |
50.00 |
30.62 |
|
Grand Total (A+B+C) |
982.00 |
938.27 |
593.00 |
413.04 |
684.14 |
322.68 |
This information was given by Minister for Law and Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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RKJ/M