Thirteen high courts have reported administrative vacancies of 20-50%. While judicial service examinations are the preferred way of recruiting judges, lateral entries and appointment of part-time judges, especially for district and subordinate courts, can be considered.

India is an outlier among BRICS nations, with the lowest number of judges compared to its population. India has 15 judges per million people—Brazil has 80, China has about 160, and South Africa over 40.

We are also poorly placed in representation of women in the judiciary, at 37.4 percent—38 percent in the subordinate courts and 14 percent in the high courts. The representation is even lesser in the nation’s top court—only 3.1 percent. In the last 75 years, only 11 women have been appointed judges of the Supreme Court.

Speaking at a conference earlier this month, Justice Kant had observed, “The notion of access to justice is not an abstract ideal. Rather, it’s a sapient right that must be continuously nurtured through institutional strength, professional competence, and compassionate engagement… The journey toward accessible justice is not traversed on a linear path—the road is long and winding.”

As the Chief Justice of India embarks on his own journey of judicial, intellectual and moral leadership along that winding road, the constitutional vision of access to justice should be the lodestar.

(Views are personal)

C Raj Kumar
Founding Vice Chancellor, O P Jindal Global (Deemed) University, and Dean, Jindal Global Law School.