Allahabad High Court Directs Registration Of PIL For Creation Of 9149 Trial Courts, Says Matter Interests 'Public At Large'

In a plea to expedite a 14-year-old criminal revision, the Allahabad High Court has directed the Registry to register a PIL pertaining to the creation of courts in the trial judiciary, and place it before the Chief Justice for appropriate directions.

Justice Rajeev Singh held that, “this Court is of the view that the issue related to the creation of 9149 courts is related to interest of public at large and, therefore, the Registry is directed to register the PIL as a separate case and place it before Hon'ble the Chief Justice for appropriate direction.”

Proceedings were initiated under Section 145 Cr.P.C., with the order passed being assailed in Criminal Revision. As the Criminal Revision was pending for 14 years, the High Court directed filing of personal affidavits by the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Law/Legal Remembrance.

In the order, the Court referenced the decision of the Supreme Court in All India Judges' Association and others vs. Union of India on the issue of inadequate judicial strength contributing to the huge backlog of cases. A ratio of 50 judges per 10 lakh people was recommended by the 120^th Law Commission report.

The Court noted that as per the affidavit filed by the Principal Secretary, the Supreme Court in Imtiyaz Ahmad vs. State of U.P. had granted permission for the usage of a scientific method in determining the total number of judicial hours required for disposing of the caseload of each court. In pursuance of the same, the High Court had proposed the creation of a total of 9149 courts, with the Finance Department advising a phased approach.

The Chief Secretary in his affidavit admitted that the request of the High Court for the creation of courts was considered on 22.04.2024. In the first phase, 2693 posts had to be created. The Additional Chief Secretary in his affidavit stated that the guidelines in Imtiyaz Ahmad had been considered in a meeting held on 15.10.2024.

The Court referred to Sonu Agnihotri vs. Chandra Shekhar & Ors., wherein the Supreme Court observed that in the All India Judges Association, direction was given to increase the judge-to-population ratio to 50 per million. However, a ratio of 25 per million was not achieved till 2024, observed the Court.

Justice Singh observed that several petitions are being filed for directions to expedite proceedings. However, the directions in All India Judges taken note of in Sonu Agnihotri have not been complied with till date, held the Court.

Considering the law laid down by the Supreme Court in the State of U.P. and Ors. vs. Neeraj Chaubey & Ors. for conversion of a case to a PIL, along with a request by members of the Bar due to wider impact of the issue on the judicial system, the Court directed the Registry to register a PIL as a separate case and place it before the Chief Justice for appropriate direction.

Case Title: Krishna Chandra Singh @ Munna Singh v. State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Revenue Lko. And Others 2025 LiveLaw (AB) 41 [APPLICATION U/S 483 No. - 453 of 2024]

Case citation: 2025 LiveLaw (AB) 41

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