INDORE: Madhya Pradesh has the second highest vacancies of judicial officers in district subordinate courts in the country as one in every five posts is lying vacant, revealed a reply of Union ministry of law in Lok Sabha during the recently concluded monsoon session.
The vacancies in these courts have increased continuously in the last three years, stated the reply.
According to the reply, 435 posts of judicial officers are lying vacant against the sanctioned strength of 2021 till July 22.
On the question of increasing vacancies of judicial officers in the state, law and legal affairs minister Narrotam Mishra told TOI, “Around 20% posts of judicial officers are lying vacant in courts across state.”
“The state government is in the process to fill half of those vacancies this year. The government is going to recruit 250 civil judges and 50 additional district judges to fill in the gap between sanctioned strength and working judges,” said Mishra.
“The government has also recruited judicial officers in the last couple of years,” said Mishra. The reply of the Union ministry, however, showed otherwise. It showed that vacancies of judicial officers kept on increasing in the last three years. It went up from 401 in 2019 to 411 in 2020 and finally rose to 435 in 2021- second highest in the country behind Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh has the highest 1,053 vacancies of judicial officers in its district subordinate courts against a sanctioned strength of 3,634 judges.
In the country, the vacancies of judicial officers increased in the last three years, showed reply.
At present, the country has a shortage of 5,132 judicial officers against 24,368 required judges in district, subordinate courts across the country. The vacancies rose from 4,911 in 2019 to 5,132 in 2021 in courts across the country, showed reply.
