Judiciary is collapsing, says retd Justice Hospet

PANAJI: Retired Justice Suresh Hospet on Saturday opined that the judiciary is “seriously collapsing” and referred to the ‘feeling of deprivation’ among the citizens that he observed during his tour of the nation in view of human rights violations.
“One must seriously consider what is happening in the country, it is not proper,” quipped the former senior judge Hospet during his key note address at the seminar on ‘Independent high court for the state of Goa’ organized by the South Goa advocates association (SGAA) at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao.
As he cited a popular magazine called ‘Res Ipsa Loquitur’, the retired judge quoted various statistics of pendency of cases and vacancies of judges throughout the nation that is severely affecting the delivery of justice in India.
“There are a total of over 3 crore cases pending in the country today. By 2040, it has been predicted that there will be 15 crore cases pending. There are in all 270 vacancies in the high courts in the country out of the total 906 sanctioned strength for judges in the various high courts. They now seek to increase the judges to 1,100. The Allahabad high court has 70 vacancies for judges and 10,43,398 pending cases. The Punjab & Haryana high court has 21 vacancies for judges and 2,62,760 pending cases. The Karnataka high court has 17 vacancies for judges and 1,96,972 pending cases. The Madras high court has 16 vacancies for judges and 5,57,479 pending cases. The Calcutta high court has 16 vacancies for judges and 2,80,006 pending cases. The Andhra Pradesh high court has 15 vacancies for judges and 2,32,459 pending cases. The Mumbai high court has 10 vacancies for judges and 3,49,837 pending cases. The Rajasthan high court has 12 vacancies for judges and 3,07,640 pending cases,” disclosed Hospet.
Stating that it has been recommended that an average of 750 cases be disposed annually, Hospet divulged that “while the Mumbai high court disposed off 900-1,000 cases annually, the Karnataka high court disposed off 2,000 cases annually. In the UK, the average age for a criminal case before the lower judiciary is 60 weeks but in India, it is 28 years. I just read about a verdict delivered in a murder case recently. The judicial system is supposed to be a pyramid but today, there is a growth of cases in court.”
The association also felicitated seven senior advocates, Cantalicio Colaco, Naguesh S Verlekar, Bernard D’Souza, Premanand Navelcar, Lazarus Viegas and the lawyer couple – Gilman Fernandes and Joanna Fernandes for completing more than 50 years in service. The function was well attended.