By IANS,
New Delhi : More than 66,000 cases are pending in the Supreme Court at present, parliament was told Thursday.
Out of the 66,569 matters, 21,862 are up to one year old, Law Minister Ashwini Kumar told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
He said the government was periodically reminding the chief justices of the high courts to initiate proposals in time for filling up the existing vacancies as well as the vacancies anticipated in the next six months.
“There is an issue about vacancies in the high courts in particular, where 278 positions are empty,” Ashwini Kumar said, adding that the reason for this is that not enough lawyers are coming forward to become judges.
Noting the responsibility for disposal of pending cases in high courts and Supreme Court is within the domain of judiciary, he said that to assist them in addressing the problem of pendency of cases, the government set up a National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms in August 2011.
“The mission has twin objectives of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears in the system and enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting performance standards and capacities,” he said.