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Published Apr 05, 2023 | 8:04 AM ⚊ Updated Apr 05, 2023 | 8:04 AM
Karnataka tops India Justice Report 2022, in providing access to justice; TN, AP, Telangana in top five. Representational Image. (iStock)
According to the India Justice Report (IJR) 2022, Karnataka tops the list of states and Union Territories (UTs) in providing access to justice and three other southern states figure among the best five.
The IJR, which was released in New Delhi on Tuesday, 4 April, said except for Delhi and Chandigarh, no state or UT spends more than one percent of its total annual expenditure on the judiciary where the vacancy of judges in high courts stands at 30 percent.
The IJR — an initiative of the Tata Trusts launched in 2019 — said as of December 2022, the country had 19 judges for every 10 lakh people and a backlog of 4.8 crore cases.
The Law Commission had suggested, as early as 1987, that there should be 50 judges for every 10 lakh people in a decade.
The statistics were shared in IJR which ranked states and UTs on various parameters like vacancies in the judiciary, budgetary allocations, infrastructure, human resources, legal aid, condition of prisons, functioning of police and state human rights commissions.
The Tata Trusts website describes IJR as a “unique initiative” that “ranks individual Indian states in relation to their capacity to deliver access to justice”.
While Karnataka topped the chart among 18 large and mid-size states having a population of over one crore each, it was followed by Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
The list of seven small states, having a population of less than one crore each, was headed by Sikkim, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.
“The justice system as a whole remains affected by low budgets. Except for two Union Territories, Delhi and Chandigarh, no state spends more than one percent of its total annual expenditure on the judiciary.
“Vacancy is an issue across the police, prison staff, legal aid, and judiciary. For 1.4 billion (140 crore) people, India has about 20,076 judges with about 22 percent of sanctioned posts vacant. Vacancy among high court judges is at 30 percent.
“In the police, women are only about 11.75 percent, despite their numbers doubling in the last decade. About 29 per cent of the officer positions are vacant. The police-to-population ratio is 152.8 per lakh. The international standard is 222,” the report said.
It said prisons are over-occupied at over 130 percent and more than two-thirds of the prisoners (77.1 percent) are awaiting the completion of investigation or trial.
The IJR said most of the states have not fully utilised funds given to them by the Centre and their increase in spending on the police, prisons, and judiciary has not kept pace with the overall increase in state expenditure.
Retired Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B Lokur said, “The third IJR shows that states are making a substantive improvement over the last two ones in terms of adding new dimensions on diversity, training, and infrastructure. Some states have dramatically improved their performance but there is a lot that needs to be done on the whole.”
“So far as the police are concerned there does appear to be a shortage of women officers in the police. Legal aid is doing better but still, a lot of people need to be provided quality free legal aid, we need to increase the confidence that people have in our services,” he said.
Maja Daruwala, Chief Editor of IJR 2022, said as a member of the comity of nations and, more importantly, as a commitment to itself, India has promised that by 2030 it will have ensured access to justice for all and built effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.
“But the official statistics brought together in the IJR this year show that we still have a long way to go. I would again urge that the provision of affordable, efficient and accessible justice services to each one of us be treated as necessary as food, education, or health.
“For this to happen more resources need to be ploughed into it, much more capacity built and much more attention paid to curing long-standing deficiencies,” she said.
The report said Karnataka remains the only state to have consistently met its quota for SC, ST and OBC positions, both among police officers and the constabulary.
“In the judiciary, at the subordinate/ district court level, no state met all the three quotas. Only Gujarat and Chhattisgarh met their respective SC quotas. Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttarakhand met their respective ST quotas. Kerala, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana met OBC quotas,” it said.
Regarding the share of women in key positions across the justice system, which includes police, prisons, judiciary and legal aid, the report states that one out of 10 is a woman.
“While the overall share of women in the police force is about 11.75 percent, in the officer ranks it is still lower at 8 percent. Only 13 percent of high court judges and 35 percent of subordinate court judges are women. Among prison staff, they are 13 percent. A majority of states have increased the share of women panel lawyers. Nationally, the share has increased from 18 percent to 25 percent,” it said.
It said one in four police stations does not have a single CCTV and nearly three in 10 police stations do not have women’s help desks.
The report said about 30 percent (391) of prisons record occupancy rates of above 150 percent and 54 percent (709) run above 100 percent capacity.
“With the exception of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura, and Madhya Pradesh, the undertrial population of all states and Union Territories exceeds 60 percent,” it said.
On the aspect of workload in the judiciary, the report said in 28 states/ Union Territories, one in every four high court cases are pending for more than five years. In district courts of 11 states/UTs, one in every four cases is pending for more than five years,” the report said.
The IJR said the population per subordinate court judge and high court judge is 71,224 persons and 17,65,760 persons respectively.
With regard to budgets, it found the national per capita spend on legal aid, including the expenditure of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and the state/ UT governments themselves, is a meagre of ₹4.57 per annum.
Excluding NALSA, this figure drops to ₹3.87 and, if only NALSA’s budget (2021-22) is considered, the percapita spend is ₹1.06 only, it said.
It said the national per capita spend on prisons is ₹43. Nationally, the annual average spend per prisoner has gone down to ₹38,028 from ₹43,062. Andhra Pradesh records the highest annual spend on a prisoner at ₹2,11,157.
“The national per capita spend on judiciary stands at ₹146,” it said, adding the national per capita spend on police is at ₹1151.
“IJR 2022 has reiterated both immediate and foundational corrections. It has flagged urgent filling of vacancies and increased representation. To effect an irreversible change, it has exhorted that Justice delivery be designated as an essential service,” it concluded.
The third IJR also assessed the capacity of the 25 State Human Rights Commissions (SHRC) and found that there are 33,312 pending cases before these panels in March 2021 and the national average vacancy across 25 SHRCs is at 44 percent.
The statistics show nine states have been working with 50 percent or more vacancies among members in SHRCs and only six states have women in their executive staff.
(Disclaimer: The headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed, and has been edited for style.)
