Maharashtra at 11th spot for justice delivery: report

The recently released India Justice Report 2022 IJR on justice delivery in India has put Maharashtra at No 11 after the state had topped the ranking in the first two reports in 2019 and 2020 The report which is based on the four pillars of the justice system ndash police judiciary prisons and legal aid ndash indicates that the state has not been able to improve as much on the four parameters as some other large statesThe IJR is brought out by a collective of organisations working towards justice reforms including the Centre for Social Justice Common Cause Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative DAKSH TISSndashPrayas Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and How India Lives as the data partnersSouthern states dominateAs per the latest report the southern states of India dominate in the delivery of justice as compared to the rest of the country This is the third IJR which continues to compare and track the improvements and shortfalls in each statersquos structural and financial capacity to deliver justiceAlso Read Bombay HC quashes transfer of suspended EPFO employee to IndoreShailesh Gandhi former Central Information Commissioner and Valay Singh IJR project leadKarnataka is at the top of the 18 large and midsized states each having a population of over 1 crore followed by Tamil Nadu 2nd in 2020 Telangana 3rd in 2020 Gujarat 6th in 2020 and Andhra Pradesh 12th in 2020 The list of seven small states each having a population of less than 1 crore was topped by Sikkim 2nd in 2020 followed by Arunachal Pradesh 5th in 2020 and Tripura 1st in 2020What the report statesValay Singh project lead of IJR Delhi said ldquoThe IJR through the governments own data shows us the serious gaps in capacity to deliver justice The spending on justice delivery is very poor The training of police officials is practically nonexistent among the constabulary staff with less than 2 per cent of the police budgets being allocated for it while our prisons have 130 per cent occupancy which is the highest since 2007rdquoAccording to Singh the timely delivery of fair and equitable justice is crucial for the wellbeing of individuals as well as the country ldquoWe cannot have just 22000odd judges to tackle the total caseload of over 4 crore cases Similarly we send more and more people to prisons but are unable to provide them with correctional and reformative services The legal aid system has the potential to really serve each needy person but with the least resources allocated to it it is not possiblerdquo he said adding that less than Rs 4 per capita is spent on free legal aidThe situation in MaharashtraAccording to Singh the statersquos capacity to deliver timely justice has declined because of growing staff vacancies in prisons a big reduction in the number of legal aid clinics in rural areas and low share of women in police among other factors ldquoThe state has not been able to improve as much as some of the other large statesrdquo he saidSingh further elaborated that the available data indicates that correctional staff vacancies in Maharashtra increased to 46 per cent in 2021 from 37 per cent in 2019 Cases pending for 510 years and more than 10 years at the district court level have also increased ldquoThe case clearance rate at the High Court HC level dropped to 72 per cent in 2022 from 85 per cent in 201819 The state has spent the least on inmates Rs 17187 among the large states after Punjab and a single legal service clinic covered 179 villages in 2022 despite an increase of 95 villages since 2020rdquo said SinghVacancies in the judiciaryIndia has about 20076 judges for 14 billion people with about 22 per cent of sanctioned posts lying vacant Vacancies for HC judges stand at 30 per cent As of December 2022 India had 19 judges per million population when calculated against the sanctioned strength with a backlog of 48 crore cases The Law Commission had desired as early as 1987 that there should be 50 judges per million in a decadePolice In the Police force women constitute only about 1175 per cent Despite their numbers doubling in the last decade about 29 per cent of the officer positions are vacant The police force to population ratio is 1528 per lakh while the international standard is 222PrisonsPrisons are overoccupied with over 130 per cent occupancy More than twothirds of the prisoners 771 per cent are awaiting the completion of investigations or trialsLegal aidIndiarsquos per capita spending on free legal aid which 80 per cent of the population is eligible for is a meagre Rs 387 per annumMost states not spending even 1 per centMost states have not fully utilised funds given to them by the Centre Their own increase in spending on the police force prisons and judiciary has not been on par with the overall increase in state expenditureThe justice system as a whole remains affected by low budgets Except for two union territories Delhi and Chandigarh no state spends more than 1 per cent of its total annual expenditure on the judiciaryWhat the experts sayWhen midday contacted former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi he said he has gone through the wide variety of data released in the IJR but the entire report is silent on solutions ldquoThe effort and need of the hour is to get solutions which are not seenrdquo he saidAccording to Gandhi it is a known fact that of all the prisoners across prisons in India 75 per cent are undertrials This is due to an increase in the backlog of cases in the judiciary which is resulting in prisoner numbers going up ldquoBut the reality is that the increase in undertrials is due to India being careless in filling judicial vacancies The annual increase of backlog cases in the judiciary is less than 3 per cent per year while the vacancies in judicial positions as compared to sanctioned positions is 21 per cent If a vacancy would have filled up each year the backlog would come down This core issue is neither being addressed by the judiciary nor the media he said adding that the rights of undertrials under Articles 14 and 21 are being violated each day for over 4 lakh prisoners and most of them are poorldquoSimilarly the truth of burking in police stations is very well known and probably our crime statistics reflect less than 5 per cent of the total actual crimes committed Unless we address these issues we will not come to know the truthrdquo said GandhiWhere are the solutionsAccording to the NITI Ayog a strategy paper for 75 years of independent India claims that it will take 324 years to clear the backlog of pending cases ldquoThis figure seems like fiction as no one can forecast for three centuries Such forecasts are careless and unrealistic The solution is simple Citizens need to demand a timebound delivery system for everything If this happens then a great change can occurrdquo said GandhiHe concluded by saying that people are quick to blame and fix responsibilities on others but in the process forget to even check where the solution lies Each solution may not give the right answer but at least it may give a direction ldquoThe need of the hour is that citizens and the media ask relevant questions and get solutions to the issues rather than being part of the question themselves They are the rulers and must discharge their dutyrdquo he saidIn response Singh clarified that the reports do highlight solutions to the issues at hand and listed some ndash 24X7 legal guidance and representation at police stations and courts at first instance SHRCs must be fully resourced and reach out to the community proactively Ensure UTRCs guidelines of 14 categories of prisoners are considered for release and increase resources for first responders Prioritise human and financial resources at all training facilities Fill vacancies on a war footing Enhance and equip the justice delivery system as a first responder can provide effective justice delivery at all timesWhat is Karnataka doing rightGoing from rank 14 in IJR 2020 to rank 1 in IJR 2022hellip Reduced HC judge vacancy to 27 per cent from 47 per cent in 2019 Highest share of women among prison staff since 2016 with nearly 1 in 3 staff members being a woman in 2021 All police stations in the state have at least one CCTV camera Only state to meet its SC ST and OBC quotas for officers and constables in the police Increased its per capita spending on judiciary to Rs 193 in 202021 from Rs 126 in 201718What is Maharashtra doing wrongGoing from rank 1 in IJR 2020 to 11 in IJR 2022hellip Correctional staff vacancies increased to 46 per cent in 2021 from 37 per cent in 2019 Increased in cases pending for 510 years and more than 10 years at district court level Case clearance rate at HC level dropped to 72 per cent in 2022 from 85 per cent in 201819 Spent the least on inmates Rs 17187 among the large states after Punjab 1 legal service clinic covered 179 villages in 2022 despite an increase over the 95 villages in 2020Some encouraging improvements States are increasing budget allocation for legal aid As of 202122 all states UTs contributed more than 60 per cent to their legal aid budgets Nationally share of women in subordinate judiciary crosses 33 per cent Nationally per capita spending on police increased to Rs 1151 202021 from Rs 912 201718 Share of jails with video conferencing increased to 84 per cent from 60 per cent IJR 2020Lacunae persistent nationally Prison occupancy of over 130 per cent ndash the highest since 2010 ndash with over 23rd inmates yet to be convicted Women only constitute 1175 per cent of police force despite doubling in the last decade High vacancies among HC judges police officers almost 30 per cent Nationally legal aid clinics reduced by 44 per cent from 23022 in 201920 to 12976 in 202021179Villages served by 1 legal aid clinic