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A PIL is filed before the Supreme Court for asking the appointment of more judges in the Subordinate Courts for solving the issue of long pendency of cases, inter alia seeking formal guidelines and rule of procedures for the appointment of judges within the time-bound duration.
The petitioner is the final year law student, Shrikant Prasad. The petition maintained the denial of the right to life under article 21 due to the delay of administration of justice that causes mental harassment to both victims and accused.
The petitioner presented that there are only 20 judges per 10 lakhs people according to the 2019 report by the Union Law Ministry. The total number of pending cases in district courts is 3.5 crore and among which, 2.5 crores are of criminal nature.
"The issue of judicial backlog and delay is widely acknowledged and extensively written about, but it seems to be nowhere close to being resolved. Today, a litigant can be stuck in court corridors for decades…the original litigant may not even be alive by the time the court resolves the issue. It is a stretch to describe any verdict given after decades as 'justice'," states the plea.
The petition also asked the Supreme Court to ask the authorities to fill the vacant posts and increase the number of judges in the proportion laid down in the All India Judges Association & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. It also asked the Supreme Court to appoint efficient and effective judges as ad-hoc judges under article 127.