India simply does not have enough judges for the size and workload of its justice system. India has only about 21,000 working judges for more than 1.4 billion people—roughly 22 judges per million people. By comparison, European countries average roughly 220 professional…
Courts & Judicial Capacity
Court infrastructure, judge vacancies, number of courts, case backlogs, judicial appointments, court administration, specialized courts, and overall capacity of the judicial system.
7 Policy Solutions
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Proposed Solutions
India cannot solve its enormous court backlog simply by appointing more judges. Every additional judge needs a courtroom, support staff, technology, records systems, security, and basic facilities for citizens. India currently has about 21,000 working judges and roughly 22,700 court halls. If…
A large amount of court time is spent not on deciding cases, but on moving paperwork, filing documents, serving notices, scheduling hearings, locating records, and handling routine administrative work. India has already made significant progress through e-Courts, e-filing, online case information and…
Judges are trained to hear cases, interpret the law, and deliver judgments. They should not have to spend much of their time managing a court’s day-to-day operations. Courts are also large organizations. Someone must manage case flow, schedules, staff, records, technology, facilities,…
Setting a time limit for resolving a case will not help if the case is poorly managed between filing and judgment. Cases can be delayed because hearings are scheduled too far apart, adjournments are repeatedly granted, documents or evidence are not ready,…
India’s courts have millions of cases that remain unresolved for years. One reason cases can drag on is that there is often no clear, publicly visible expectation of how long different types of cases should reasonably take. Not every case can or…
Measure and Publish Court Performance
Published
India cannot improve its courts effectively unless it can clearly see where cases are getting delayed and why. Regular publication of court performance can make the justice system more transparent, make persistent delays visible, and create greater accountability for improving performance. A…