While urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to recruit more judges to clear the backlog, Chief Justice of India Tirath Singh Thakur Sunday got emotional and was seen in tears before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It’s unusual for a Chief Justice to get emotional publicly. The incident happened in New Delhi on Sunday at a meeting of central government with chief justices and chief ministers of states.
CJI TS Thakur was seen in tears while discussing the issue of over burdened judiciary.
Chief Justice reminded the Prime Minister the recommendations given by Law Commission in 1987 to appoint 50 judges for per lakh population.
Prime Minister assured him that he would look into the matter.
Chief Justice Thakur said the only solution to clear the backlog of cases was to increase the number of judges, as recommended by the Law Commission in 1987 and agreed to by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Referring to the Prime Minister’s suggestion on reducing annual holidays, the CJI said: “It is a stressful job… Do you think that during three-week vacations, we go to Manali or for trekking? When do you write Constitution Bench judgments? Justice [Jagdish Singh] Khehar served his last vacation writing a judgment. He even took leave.”
Chief Justice said lawyers did not want to work during vacations. He had asked the Supreme Court Bar Association to give the names of lawyers who wanted to take up cases during vacations, but no list had come.
