It'll take 320 years to clear legal backlog'
TNN, Mar 7, 2010, 01.54am IST


HYDERABAD: It will take the Indian judiciary 320 years to clear the backlog of 31.28 million cases, says Justice V V S Rao of the Andhra Pradesh high court.

If the norm of 50 judicial officers per million becomes a reality by 2030 when the country’s population would be 1.5 to 1.7 billion, the number of judges would go up to 1.25 lakh dealing with 300 million cases.

A recent study indicated that the number of new cases has direct relationship with increasing literacy rate and awareness, the judge said.

Citing the example of Kerala, a high literacy state, Justice Rao said with awareness, 28 new cases per 1,000 population per annum have been added, whereas in Bihar, the figure stands at just three, he said.

He summed up the Indian situation by quoting from the journal of International Law and Politics which said:

‘‘The typical lifespan of a civil litigation in India presents a sad picture. Records of new filings are kept by hand and documents filed in court house are frequently misplaced or lost.’’

Curses!