Shortage of judges acute in U.P.

Shortage of judges acute in U.P.
748 posts to be filled against a sanctioned strength of 2,172
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh ranks highest in terms of shortage of judges with 748 posts still to be filled against a sanctioned strength of 2,172 for district courts in the State.
This accounts for more than 28 per cent of nationwide shortage of 2,655 judges against the total sanctioned strength of 14,305 across the country, according to official figures.
In terms of judges shortage, Uttar Pradesh was followed by Bihar with a figure of 472 against the sanctioned strength 1163 for the state.
Yet further down are Maharashtra with (216), Karnataka (138), West Bengal (110), Rajasthan (106) and Madhya Pradesh (106). The remaining States have two-digit shortage. In States like Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli judges worked in full strength.
The judges to population ratio still stood at 13 per ten lakh people against the required 50 judges per ten lakh people in the country.
The onus of filling posts of judges at district level courts lies with State governments and respective High Courts and the Centre has written to them that all vacant positions should be filled.
As for the High Courts, the shortage figure stood at 71 against the sanctioned strength of 686 judges and a review of shortage, which is carried out every three years, is pending this year.
In Supreme Court, there is a shortage of four judges against the total sanctioned strength of 26 judges.
Apart from shortage of judges, the pendency of cases can be ascribed to factors such as increase in number of cases, new laws, rise in population, heightened awareness among citizens of their legal rights, adjournments, lawyers strikes, increase in socio-economic matters, legal and administrative aspects touching the lives of the citizens. -- PTI

http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/06/stories/2006120611880300.htm