Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan on Saturday said there was an urgent need to increase the number of subordinate courts in the country from 16,000 to 35,000.Mr. Balakrishnan was speaking at a conference on alternative dispute resolution — conciliation and mediation, organised by the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution.Besides, he said there were only 14,000 judges for 16,000 subordinate courts and added that he had requested State governments to recruit presiding officers. The States were not recruiting judicial officers every year and this was leading to vacancies not being filled in time.Governor H.R. Bhardwaj said the Bar and the Bench should join hands in solving the problem of pendency of cases. Karnataka, he said, had taken the lead in filling vacancies of all judges in subordinate courts. “Let the other States emulate this,” he said.Mr. Bhardwaj wanted the courts to go to the villages. When a Magistrate visited a village and resolved issues, it would increase the confidence of the common people in the judiciary. He said when he was the Union Law Minister, States always said they had no money to spend on the judiciary. Finance, he said, should be procured from the Centre or the Finance Commission.Supreme Court judge P. Sathasivam said as of July 2009, there were 53,000 cases pending before the Supreme Court, 40 lakh cases before the High Courts and 2.7 crore cases before the subordinate courts.While the Supreme Court could clear the arrears, it would be difficult for the High Courts and subordinate courts to do so. Gujarat model Supreme Court Judge Dalveer Bhandari said all vacancies in the judiciary should be filled, and the Gujarat model of setting up evening courts should be implemented in other States too.Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily said if the concept of grama nyayalayas picked up, 50 per cent of the cases pending before the subordinate judiciary could be dispensed with.Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said the State government had extended all help in making the Bangalore Mediation Centre one of the best in the country.
