"We are grappling with the problem of pendency," Bharadwaj said during the question hour in the Rajya Sabha, all but admitting that the government could do precious little about this.
"I have no power to tell a judge to write a short judgement or this or that," the minister said, adding: "A judge and his judicial conviction determine a judgement. I can't whisper in his ear. A judge is left to function on his own."
Asked about the enforcing authority to ensure judges' punctuality, Bharadwaj replied: "The quest (for a solution) is on for years. Like parliamentarians, judges should assemble well in time...."
This led to the question being asked again and the minister retorted: "Please do not disturb me. The authority is the chief justice (of the high courts and the Supreme Court). The government has no authority to interfere. We can only tell them about the anguish of parliamentarians (on this issue)."
As for the vacancies, Bhardwaj pointed to the fact that there were 21 high courts across the country and "joint effort by all concerned" was required to fill the empty posts.
Pointing to the Allahabad High Court that had a sanctioned strength of 160 judges but was far short of that number, Bharadwaj said: "I have received recommendations for appointing only 20 judges and even if I accept these, there will still be a vacancy for 70 judges."
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