Justice should be accessible, affordable and quick: President Pranab Mukherjee

Allahabad: Expressing his concern over long-pending cases in the courts, President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday pitched for speedy and affordable justice to all.

Addressing the 150th foundation day of the Allahabad High Court, he also said that sanctioned posts in the higher judiciary need to filled quickly.

"Our courts are today overburdened on account of the large number of cases pending before them. There are over three crore cases pending in various courts throughout the country. Out of these about 38.5 lakh cases are pending in 24 high courts. The pendency of cases in the high courts has slightly declined from 41.5 lakh in 2014 to 38.5 lakh in 2015, but we still have a long way to go," Mukherjee said.

"Justice delayed is justice denied. The governments, judges and lawyers must work hand in hand to make justice a living reality," he added.

Mukherjee also said that increasing the number of courts and judges and judicial officers at all levels is the first step towards achieving the objective of timely delivery of justice.

"The government and the judiciary are collectively addressing this issue through an ongoing increase in the sanctioned strength of judges both at the level of the high courts as well as district and subordinate courts. These sanctioned posts need to be filled quickly so that requisite judicial manpower is available for timely disposal of cases," he said.

He said that out of a sanctioned strength of 1,056 judges in all the high courts, the working strength throughout the country as on March 1, 2016 was only 591.

"Similarly, the sanctioned strength of judicial officers in district and subordinate courts in the country is about 20,500 out of which the working strength is only about 16,000 at present," he said.

Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, and Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court DY Chandrachud were also present during the ocassion.