[Parliament Watch]: Number of PILs filed, Uniform Civil Code and more

Here's a look at answers to Parliament Questions raised during the 2021 Monsoon Session of Parliament..A question was tabled before the Rajya Sabha by Bhaskar Rao Nekkanti, Prashanta Nanda and Shanta Chetri on the creation of the All India Judicial Services (AIJS)..While replying to the question, Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju said,"In Government's view, a properly framed All India Judicial Service is important to strengthen overall justice delivery system. This will give an opportunity for induction of suitably qualified fresh legal talent selected through a proper all-India merit selection system as well as address the issue of social inclusion by enabling suitable representation to marginalized and deprived sections of society.".No progress has been made on AIJS since the Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of the High Courts held in 2015, and the issue was discussed at a couple of other meetings in 2017 and 2021.The Centre states that it is is "engaged in a consultative process with the stakeholders to arrive at a common ground.".Another question was tabled before the Rajya Sabha by Abdul Wahab on implementation of the Uniform Civil Code.Replying to the question, Rijiju stated that the Central government has requested the Law Commission of India to examine the various issues relating to Uniform Civil Code and to make recommendation thereof. .The response also stated that it will be difficult to give a rigid time frame on the same. .Hope for a Uniform Civil Code should not remain a mere hope: Delhi High Court urges Law Ministry to act.A question was tabled before the Rajya Sabha by Neeraj Shekhar on the details of number of PILs filed from 2018 to 2021..Replying to the question, the Law Ministry gathered the figures and tabulated them as reflected below:.[View the table here].As per the table, the Allahabad High Court witnessed the largest number of PILs filed over the last three years (11,334), followed by the High Courts of Madras (8,083), Patna (2,191) and Odisha (2,173)..With respect to the disposal rates, the High Court of Odisha is leading with 2,925 cases disposed of, out of the 2,173 that were filed. The High Court of Patna follows, with 2,155 cases disposed of and 2,191 new cases filed.The Allahabad High Court disposed off 8,916 cases in the last 3 years..Statistics on the institution and disposal of PILs filed in the Delhi High Court are not available..A question was posed by KC Venugopal and Sanjay Seth regarding the judges to population ratio in India..Replying to this question, Rijiju stated that the judge-population ratio works out to be 21.03 Judges per million population for the year 2020 as per the established calculation criterion. .The response further stated, "Filling up of vacancies in the Supreme Court and High Courts is a continuous and collaborative process, between the Executive and the Judiciary. It requires consultation and approval from various Constitutional Authorities... While every effort is made to fill up the existing vacancies expeditiously, vacancies in High Courts do keep on arising on account of retirement, resignation or elevation of Judges and also the increase in the strength of Judges.".A question was posed by Manoj Kumar Jha on the status of video conferencing facilities at Magistrate and Sessions Courts..While replying to the question it was stated that all courts, including Magistrate Courts and Sessions Courts, functioning in a Court Complex, are using/sharing the common video conference system provided to the Court Complex as per their requirements and the available timings. The response further stated that under the eCourts project, funds have been provided to procure one video conferencing equipment each for 3,477 Court Complexes..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.