There are 21 judges per 10 lakh people in India: Govt

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) The judge-population ratio in the country works out to be approximately 21 judges per 10 lakh population, based on the Census 2011 data, the Parliament was informed on Thursday.

Minister of state (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal told Rajya Sabha, in a written reply, that there are 368 vacancies in High Courts, with the maximum of 79 being in the Allahabad High Court.

There are 5,262 vacant positions of judicial officers in District and Subordinate courts as on December 9, 2024, with a maximum of 996 vacancies in Uttar Pradesh, he said.

The MoS said that in the case of District and Subordinate courts, the need for an appropriate number of judges and the consequent requirement for filling up the vacancies lies in the domain of respective High Courts and the state governments.

The District Judiciary’s sanctioned strength has increased from 19,518 judicial officers in 2014 to 25,741 judicial officers, as on December 9, 2024, MoS Meghwal said in response to a question by Haris Beeran of the Indian Union Muslim League.

“Based on the population as per Census 2011 which was 1210.19 million and as per available information regarding sanctioned strength of Judges in Supreme Court, High Courts and District and Subordinate Courts in the year 2024, the judge-population ratio in the country works out to be approximately 21 Judges per million population,” the MoS said.

He said that due to consistent efforts, there has been a marked increase in the judges’ strength with the sanctioned strength of Judges of the Supreme Court being increased from 31 in 2014 to 34 Judges (including Chief Justice of India).

The status of sanctioned strength, working strength and vacancies of judges in the Supreme Court, as on December 9, 2024, are 34, 33 and 1, respectively, the MoS said.

In the case of High Courts, the sanctioned strength of Judges has increased from 906 in 2014 to 1,122, as on December 9, 2024, with a total of 216 new posts of High Court Judges being created since 2014, he said.

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