Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana delivered some surprising findings on Saturday, highlighting severe problems about the country’s judicial infrastructure, including the fact that nearly 20% of the country’s judicial officers don’t have suitable courtrooms to sit in.
Only 20,143 courtrooms, including 620 rented premises, exist in India, out of a total sanctioned strength of 24,280 judicial officers. Furthermore, 26% of court premises do not have separate facilities for women, and 16% do not have toilets at all, and only 54% of courts have filtered drinking water.
According to the CJI, just 27% of courtrooms have computers on the judges’ dais with video-conferencing capability, only 51% have a library, 32% have a separate record room, and only 5% have basic medical services in the computer age.
“In India, good judicial infrastructure has always been an afterthought. Because of this thinking, Indian courts continue to operate from outdated premises, making it impossible for them to perform their functions properly,” he explained.
CJI Ramana urged the Law Minister, who was also on the dais, to ensure that a proposal to establish the National Judicial Infrastructure Authority is taken up in Parliament’s approaching Winter Session.
“The proposal has been sent. “I expect a favorable response shortly, and the Union Law Minister will speed up the process,” he stated.
Kiren Rijiju, the Union Law Minister, responded by saying that the judiciary has “no-politics” and that “we are merely separate organs of the system, but we are a team.”
