New Delhi: The Supreme Court has been informed that around 26 per cent of total posts against the sanctioned strength of 7,881 judicial officers in the subordinate judiciary has been lying vacant in the six states of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, and Haryana. The affidavit has been filed by one of the amicus curie, Sr Adv Vijay Hansaria, in a matter pertaining to filling up vacancies in the subordinate judiciary.
As per the report, there are 671 vacancies against 2021 posts in Madhya Pradesh, 174 vacancies against 929 posts in Odisha, 449 vacancies against 2016 posts in Bihar, 209 vacancies against 797 posts in Punjab and 308 vacancies against 778 posts in Haryana.
In terms of infrastructure, Hansaria's report says that there are 1541 courts available for sanctioned strength of 2021 judicial officers in MP and 1284 residential units. In Bihar there are 1505 court halls, 90 are under construction, and 1197 residential units for the sanctioned strength of 2016 judicial officers. Tamil Nadu has 1212 court halls and 1340 residential units, Punjab has 601 court halls (32 of them are temporary) and Haryana has courtrooms and residential units for all the officers.
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Hansaria suggested that the Central Government and the state governments can be asked to disburse the amount for construction of the court building and improvement of infrastructure as proposed by the High Courts within a time frame decided by the top court.
"It is also submitted that in some of the states proposals by the High Court for allotment of land is pending with the state government. The state governments may be directed to allot appropriate land for building infrastructure facilities for the District Judiciary in terms of the proposal made," read the affidavit.
Hansaria also suggested that the High Courts and the states can be asked to hold a joint meeting within a time period and submit details of the steps taken to the top court.
