New Delhi,
April 4, 2023.
The 2022 India Justice Report (IJR), India’s only ranking of
states on delivery of Justice in the country, announced here today, ranks
Karnataka at the top of the 18 Large and Mid-sized states (with population of
over one crore each), followed by Tamil Nadu (2020: 2nd), Telangana (2020: 3rd)
Gujarat (2020: 6th) and Andhra Pradesh (2020: 12th). The list of seven Small
States (population less than one crore each) was topped by Sikkim (2020: 2nd),
followed by Arunachal Pradesh (2020: 5th) and Tripura (2020: 1st).
The India Justice Report (IJR) was initiated by Tata Trusts
in 2019, and this is the third edition. Partners include Centre for Social
Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH,
TISS–Prayas, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and How India Lives, IJR’s data
partner.
Through a rigorous 24-month quantitative research, the IJR
2022, like the previous two, has tracked the performance of states in capacitating their Justice delivery
structures to effectively deliver mandated services. Based on latest
official statistics, from authoritative government sources, it brings together
otherwise siloed data on the four pillars of Justice delivery – Police,
Judiciary, Prisons, and Legal Aid. Each pillar was analysed through the prism
of budgets, human resources, workload, diversity, infrastructure, and trends
(intention to improve over a five-year period), against the state’s own
declared standards and benchmarks. This third IJR also separately assesses the
capacity of the 25 State Human Rights Commissions (see SHRC brief for more).
The ranking of the 18 large-and mid-sized states is:
States |
Rank 2022 |
Rank 2020 |
Karnataka |
1 |
14 |
Tamil
Nadu |
2 |
2 |
Telangana |
3 |
3 |
Gujarat |
4 |
6 |
Andhra
Pradesh |
5 |
12 |
Kerala |
6 |
5 |
Jharkhand |
7 |
8 |
Madhya
Pradesh |
8 |
16 |
Chhattisgarh |
9 |
7 |
Odisha |
10 |
4 |
Maharashtra |
11 |
11 |
Punjab |
12 |
1 |
Haryana |
13 |
9 |
Uttarakhand |
14 |
15 |
Rajasthan |
15 |
10 |
Bihar |
16 |
13 |
West
Bengal |
17 |
17 |
Uttar
Pradesh |
18 |
18 |
The ranking of the seven small states is:
States |
Rank 2022 |
Rank 2020 |
Sikkim |
1 |
2 |
Arunachal
Pradesh |
2 |
5 |
Tripura |
3 |
1 |
Meghalaya |
4 |
7 |
Mizoram |
5 |
6 |
Himachal
Pradesh |
6 |
4 |
Goa |
7 |
3 |
Encouraging improvements, but persistent lacunae
IJR 2022, as in the first two, highlights persistent lacunae
when aggregated for an all-India picture.
Vacancy is an issue across the Police, Prison staff, Legal
Aid, and the Judiciary.
For 1.4 billion people, India has about 20,076 judges with
about 22% sanctioned posts vacant. Vacancy among High Court judges is at 30%.
As of December 2022, India had 19 judges per million population when calculated
against the sanctioned strength, and a backlog of 4.8 crore cases. The Law
Commission had desired, as early as 1987, it should be 50 judges per million in
a decade’s time from then.
In the Police, women are only about 11.75%, despite their
numbers doubling in the last decade. About 29% of the officer positions are
vacant. The police to population ratio is 152.8 per lakh. The international
standard is 222.
Prisons are over-occupied at over 130%. More than two-thirds
of the prisoners (77.1%) are awaiting the completion of investigation or trial.
Most states have not fully utilised funds given to them by
the Centre. Their own increase in spending on the Police, Prisons, and
Judiciary has not kept pace with overall increase in state expenditure.
The 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
judiciary.
India’s per capita spend on free Legal Aid —which 80% of the
population is eligible for – is a meagre Rs 3.87 per annum.
Commenting
on the India Justice Report, Justice (retd.) Madan B. Lokur, said, “The third IJR shows that states are
making a substantive improvement over the last two ones in terms of adding new
dimensions on diversity, training, and infrastructure. Some states have dramatically improved their performance but
there is a lot that needs to be done on the whole. So far as the police is
concerned there does appear to be a shortage of women officers in police. Legal
aid is doing better but still a lot of people need to be provided quality free
legal aid, we need to increase the confidence that people have in our
services.”
Ms. Maja Daruwala, Chief Editor, India Justice
Report 2022 points out, “As a
member of the comity of nations and more importantly as a commitment to itself,
India has promised that by 2030 it will have ensured access to justice for all
and built effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels. But
the official statistics brought together in the IJR this year show that we have
a long way to go yet. I would again urge that the provision of affordable
efficient and accessible justice services to each one of us be treated as
necessary as food, education, or health. For this to happen more resources need
to be ploughed into it, much more capacity built and much
more attention paid to curing long
standing deficiencies.”
Broad national findings:
VACANCIES
Nationally, in IJR 2022, vacancies in the justice system are
at:
●
Police: 22% (Constables), 29%
(Officers)
●
Prisons: 28% (Officers), 26% (Cadre Staff),
36% (Correctional Staff), 41%(Medical Staff), 48% (Medical Officers)
●
Judiciary: 30% (High Court Judges), 22%
(Subordinate Court Judges), 26% (High Court Staff)
●
Legal aid: 12% (DLSA Secretary)
Some states have reduced vacancies:
●
Police: Telangana in constabulary from 40%
to 26%, and Madhya Pradesh among officers from 49% to 21%
●
Prisons: Bihar among officers from 66% to 26%
●
Judiciary: Tripura among Subordinate Court
judges from 30% to 11%, and Andhra Pradesh among High Court judges from 7% to
19%
●
Legal aid: Chhattisgarh for DLSA secretaries
from 48% to nil
Across three pillars (judiciary,
police, and prisons) only Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have managed to reduce
vacancies over 5 years (2017-2022).
DIVERSITY
SC, ST, OBC
quotas: Karnataka remains the only state to
consistently meet its quota for SC, ST and OBC positions, both among Police
officers and the constabulary.
In the Judiciary, at the Subordinate/District Court level,
no state met all the three quotas. Only Gujarat and Chhattisgarh met their
respective SC quotas. Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttarakhand met their
respective ST quotas. Kerala, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,
Chhattisgarh, and Telangana met OBC quotas.
Share of
women across the justice system (Police, Prisons,
Judiciary & Legal aid) in key positions: 1 out of 10 is a woman.
While the overall share of women in the Police force is
about 11.75%, in the officer ranks it is still lower at 8%. Only 13% of High
Court judges and 35% of Subordinate Court judges are women. Among Prison staff,
they are 13%. A majority of states has increased the share of women panel
lawyers. Nationally, the share has increased from 18% to 25%.
INFRASTRUCTURE
CCTVs: About 25% -- one in four -- police stations do not have a
single CCTV. Nearly three in 10 police stations do not have women help desks.
Occupancy: About 30% (391 prisons) record occupancy rates of above
150%, and 54% (709 prisons) run above 100% capacity.
Under-trials: With the exception of Andaman & Nicobar Islands,
Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura, and Madhya Pradesh, the undertrial
population of all states and Union Territories exceeds 60%.
WORKLOAD
JUDICIARY:
●
Pending cases: In 28 states/Union
Territories one in every four High Court cases is pending for more than five
years. In District Courts of 11 states/Union Territories one in every four
cases is pending for more than five years.
●
Population per
subordinate court judge: 71,224 persons
●
Population per high
court judge: 17,65,760 persons
POLICE:
Population per civil police: 831 persons
PRISON:
Medical
Officers: India has only 658 medical officers
for its over 554,000 prison inmates. This averages to one doctor for 842
inmates.
BUDGETS FOR JUSTICE AT A GLANCE
Legal Aid: The national per capita spend on legal aid, including the
expenditure of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and the state/UT
governments themselves, is a meagre Rs 4.57 per annum. Excluding NALSA this
figure drops to Rs. 3.87, if only NALSA’s budget (2021-22) is considered the
per capita spend is Rs. 1.06 only.
Prisons: The national per capita spend on prisons is Rs. 43
Nationally, average spend per prisoner has gone down to Rs 38,028 from Rs
43,062 Andhra Pradesh records the highest annual spend on a prisoner at
Rs.211,157.
Judiciary:
The national per capita spend on
judiciary stands at Rs. 146. No state spends more than one per cent of its
total annual expenditure on the Judiciary.
Police: The national per capita spend on police is at Rs. 1151 which
is the highest among the four pillars.
IJR 2022 has reiterated both immediate and foundational
corrections. It has flagged urgent filling of vacancies and increased
representation. To effect an irreversible change, it has exhorted that Justice
delivery be designated as an essential service.