Calcutta, Sept. 17: The pending case count: 3.4 crore. Judges wanted in subordinate courts: 3,500 more. Judicial budget: less than that of the animal husbandry ministry.

These are some of the damning figures thrown up by Calcutta High Court Chief Justice V.S. Sirpurkar and Justice S.B. Sinha of the Supreme Court at an interactive session on Courts’ Delays ? The Way Forward ? in the city today.

The discussion, organised by Bengal Initiative, focused on how judicial and administrative reforms are a crying need and how the delay in disposing of cases needs to be dealt with urgently.

“The government is one of the biggest litigants today and the present system of government litigation being handled departmentally is one of the causes for delay and inefficient handling,” Justice Sirpurkar said.

“India has a litigating public. The concept of litigation has increased, as has legal literacy. There are 26 judges in the Supreme Court and 640 in the high courts. Bengal has only 714 judges in the lower courts and they handle over a million cases.”

“On an average, 1,480 judges would be required to clear the backlog in one year,” said Justice Sinha.

The suggestions for a turnaround include an alternative dispute resolution system, total computerisation of the judicial system and appointment of more judges.