India Justice Report 2022 : Karnataka tops states, UTs in providing access to justice

Tags: Reports National News

According to the India Justice Report 2022 released in New Delhi on April 4, Karnataka tops the list of states and Union Territories in providing access to justice.

Parameters - This study relies on overall statistics from four pillars of justice delivery:

• Police

• Judiciary

• Prisons

• Legal aid

Highlights of the report

Shortage of Judges

• According to the report, as of December 2022, the high courts were functioning with only 778 judges as against the sanctioned strength of 1,108.

• The subordinate courts were functioning with 19,288 judges as against the sanctioned strength of 24,631 judges.

Case Clearance Rate (CCR)

• As per reports, the High Courts are settling more cases than the subordinate courts.

• Between 2018-19 and 2022, the national average increased by six percentage points (88.5% to 94.6%) in high courts, but decreased by 3.6 points (93% to 89.4%) in subordinate courts.

• The High Courts of Kerala and Odisha have the highest case disposal rates – 156% and 131%, respectively – while the High Courts of Rajasthan (65%) and Bombay (72%) have the lowest, respectively.

Increasing Pendency

• The number of cases per judgment has been relatively stable over the past five years in most states.

• At the High Court level, cases are pending for an average of 11.34 years in Uttar Pradesh, while West Bengal has a delay of 9.9 years. Tripura has the lowest average (1 year), Sikkim (1.9 years) and Meghalaya (2.1 years).

Performance of States

• Karnataka ranks first among 18 large and medium-sized states with a population of over one crore in terms of delivery of justice, which includes police, judiciary, prisons and legal aid.

• Tamil Nadu is second and Telangana is third. Uttar Pradesh is at the 18th position, which is at the bottom.

• Among small states, Sikkim topped the list of seven small states with less than one crore population, followed by Arunachal Pradesh. Goa is at the bottom, at seventh position.

Court Hall

• Nationwide, the number of courts appears to be sufficient to accommodate the actual number of judges.

• But as per reports if all the sanctioned posts are filled, the court hall will become an issue.

About India Justice Report

• Tata Trusts launched the India Justice Report (IJR) in 2019.

• This is the third edition.

• Center for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Daksh, TISS-Prayas, Vidhi Institute for Law Policy, and How India Lives, data partner of IJR, are among its partners.