Bengaluru: District judiciary in Karnataka is grappling with a severe shortage of judicial officers, according to the latest data as of Jan 31. Data shows that against a sanctioned strength of 21,541 positions across the state’s district courts, 5,926 positions remain vacant, representing approximately 27.5% of the total judicial workforce.
This is slightly better than the vacancy position last year, when law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil had told TOI that the issue of vacancies is being addressed and shared data of vacant judicial staff posts. As per Patil, nearly 28% of the judicial staff posts were vacant as of Aug 2024.
Courts in Bengaluru city face the most acute shortage with 835 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 2,510. Bengaluru Rural courts follow with 532 vacant positions out of the 1,003 sanctioned posts. Mandya district shows a particularly concerning situation with 376 vacancies against 844 sanctioned positions.
The data reveals that several major districts are operating with significant staffing deficits. Mysuru with 299 vacancies, Belagavi 345, Tumakuru 279, Dakshina Kannada 312 and Hassan 207 are experiencing substantial shortfalls.
Aside from vacancies of judicial officers, 243 of the 1,395 sanctioned posts for district judge, ad-hoc district judge, senior civil judge and civil judge remain vacant.
Sixty-one of the 395 district judge posts are vacant, while there are 16 ad-hoc judges working despite there being zero sanctioned posts. Of the 440 senior civil judge positions, 33 are vacant and 165 of the 560 civil judge posts are unfilled.
The critical nature of these vacancies raises questions about the timely disposal of cases and access to justice for citizens across Karnataka. Court efficiency and case management are likely to be severely affected by these staffing shortages.
Separate data from the national judicial data grid shows that the district courts in Karnataka have a pendency of around 21 lakh cases, of which more than 10 lakh are civil cases and more than 11 lakh are criminal cases.
Legal experts suggest that addressing this judicial vacancy crisis should be a priority for the state government to ensure effective functioning of the justice delivery system. The vacancies may be contributing to case backlogs and delays in judgements, ultimately affecting public trust in the judicial system.
Patil had recently told the legislative assembly that the process of filling up the vacancies has begun. Citing a Feb 2025 notification, Patil said 158 civil judge posts will soon be filled up.
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District
Sanctioned Strength
Vacancy
Vacancy %
Bengaluru City
2,510
835
33.3%
Bengaluru (R)
1,003
532
53%
Belagavi
1,465
345
23.6%
Mysuru
1,179
299
25.4%
Tumakuru
966
279
28.9%
All Other Districts
14,418
3,636
25.2%
Total
21,541
5,926
27.5%
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Cadre
Sanctioned Strength
Working Strength
Vacancy
District Judge
395
334
61
Ad-hoc District Judge
0
16
-16
Senior Civil Judge
440
407
33
Civil Judge
560
395
165
Total
1,395
1,152
243
Source: State govt