AMN / CUTTACK:

Hon'ble Mr. Justice T.S. ThakurChief Justice of India T S Thakur today said that more than 70,000 judges were required to clear pending cases in the country. He said that the matter was brought to the notice of prime Minister recently with a plea to make the appointments quickly.

Justice Thakur was addressing a seminar of legal luminaries on the occasion of centennial celebrations of the first sitting of the circuit bench of High Court for Odisha at Cuttack.

Recently in New Delhi too the CJI recently expressed concern over low judge-population ratio in the country before the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi

“Access to justice is a fundamental right and governments cannot afford to deny it to the people” he stressed.

The CJI said shortage of judges was one of the formidable challenges the judiciary was facing in the country now as the country today has only 18,000 judges.

Severa judges of the Supreme Court and judges of Calcutta, Patna and Jharkhand High Courts are participating in the centennial celebrations, which will continue for a week with seminars, conferences and cultural programmes lined up for the occasion.