(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) Ahead of taking oath as the 53rd Chief Justice of India on Monday, Justice Surya Kant on Saturday identified reducing the backlog of court cases as his top priority, promising to promote mediation.

In an interaction with mediapersons, the CJI-designate said:“We would work on how to reduce the pending cases in the Supreme Court and courts across the country.”

He stated that immediately after taking the oath of office as Chief Justice, he would speak with all High Courts across the country to identify and resolve issues that are preventing hearings in lower courts.

Justice Surya Kant, 63, said that since the government is the largest party (plaintiff), efforts will be made to address this issue as well.

He stated that steps will be taken to constitute Constitution Benches of five, seven, and nine judges in the next few weeks to hear important cases that have been pending for a long time.

“Mediation will also be implemented effectively to reduce the burden of millions of cases,” he said.

“Mediation can be promoted to reduce the burden of litigation between state governments and between the Central government and state governments. Focus should be on community mediation. A conducive environment must be created for this,” he said.

Asked about the scope of employing AI to reduce backlog of cases, Justice Surya Kant said that there are many issues and challenges.

“It has advantages, but people also have some concerns. It can be used in procedural matters. However, everyone wants their case to be decided by a judge,” he said.

Indian courts are burdened with a massive load of 5.29 crore pending cases, according to official data up to July 21 available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG).

The maximum number of 4.65 crore cases are pending in district and subordinate courts, followed by 63.30 lakh cases in High Courts and 86,742 cases in the Supreme Court, the data showed.

Apart from the burgeoning case backlog, the district and subordinate courts appear to have struggled to work at full strength.

According to the Department of Justice, as against a sanctioned strength of 25,843 judicial officers as on July 21, 2015, the lower courts are working with a strength of 21,122.

As a measure to reduce backlog, arrears committees have been set up in all 25 High Courts to clear cases pending for more than five years, and similar arrears committees have now been set up under District Courts as well, according to the Law and Justice Ministry.

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