An emotional Chief Justice of India T S Thakur on Sunday lamented "inaction" by the Executive to increase the number of judges from the present 21,000 to 40,000 to handle the “avalanche” of litigations even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured him of his government’s resolve in finding a solution jointly with the judiciary.

The Chief Justice of India said in a choking voice...

"…And therefore, it is not only in the name of a litigant or people languishing in jails but also in the name of development of the country, its progress that I beseech you to rise to the occasion and realise that it is not enough to criticise. You cannot shift the entire burden on the judiciary. If you compare performances of our judges to the other countries, we are head and shoulder above them".

Nothing has moved since 1987

Addressing the inaugural session of Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, Justice Thakur said that since 1987, when the Law Commission had recommended increase in the number of judges from then 10 judges per 10 lakh people to 50, "nothing has moved."

"Then comes inaction by the government as the increase (in the strength of judges) does not take place," he said.

As of today, the judge to people ratio stands at 15 judges to 10 lakh people which is way less than as compared to the US, Australia, the UK and Canada.