There are only 15 judges per million population in the country, a far cry from the Law Commission's recommendation of 50 judges per million population, a 2025 report on India's judicial system released on Tuesday said.
In contrast, the USA has 150 judges per million population, according to a January 2024 New York Times news report, and Europe had an average of 220 judges per million in 2022, according to an October 2024 Council of Europe report.
"For 1.4 billion people, India has 21,285 judges, or approximately 15 judges per million population. This continues to be significantly below the 1987 law commission's recommendation of 50 judges per million population," said the 2025 India Justice Report, which ranks states on the delivery of justice in the country.
While the vacancies in high courts stood at 33 percent of the total sanctioned strength, the report claimed 21 per cent vacancies in 2025, indicating a high workload for the existing judges.
"Nationally, in the district courts, the average workload is 2,200 cases per judge. In the Allahabad and Madhya Pradesh high courts, the caseload per judge amounts to 15,000," the report said.
The overall share of women judges, the report said, in the district judiciary increased from 30 percent in 2017 to 38.3 percent, and it increased from 11.4 percent to 14 percent in the high courts in 2025.
"There is a higher share of women judges in the district courts as compared to the high courts and the Supreme Court (6 per cent). Currently, there is only one woman chief justice across the 25 high courts," the report said. -- PTI
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