Why in news? Karnataka has ranked as number one in the list of states and Union Territories in granting access to justice and three other southern states figured among the best five, according to the India Justice Report 2022.

Highlights:

• Karnataka topped the chart among 18 large and mid-size states having a population of over one crore each.
• It was followed by Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
• The report said Karnataka remained the only state to have consistently met its quota for SC, ST and OBC positions, both among police officers and the constabulary.

About the report

• The Indian Justice Report, an initiative of the Tata Trusts launched in 2019, ranked states and UTs on various parameters like vacancies in the judiciary, budgetary allocations, infrastructure, human resources, legal aid, condition of prisons, functioning of police and state human rights commissions.
• This report is based on 24-month quantitative research.
• The IJR 2022, like the previous two, has tracked the performance of States in capacitating their Justice delivery structures to effectively deliver mandated services.
• Based on the latest official statistics, from authoritative government sources, the report brings together otherwise siloed data on the four pillars of Justice delivery namely Police, Judiciary, Prisons, and Legal Aid.
• Each pillar was analysed through the prism of budgets, human resources, workload, diversity, infrastructure, and trends against the state’s own declared standards and benchmarks.
• This third IJR also separately assesses the capacity of the 25 State Human Rights Commissions in the country.

The key findings of the report

• Except for Delhi and Chandigarh, no state or UT spends more than one per cent of its total annual expenditure on judiciary where the vacancy of judges in high courts stands at 30 per cent.
• The list of seven small states, having a population of less than one crore each, was headed by Sikkim, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.
• Only Gujarat and Chhattisgarh met their respective SC quotas.
• Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttarakhand met their respective ST quotas. Kerala, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana met OBC quotas

What are the challenges highlighted in the report?

• The justice system as a whole remains affected by low budgets, except for two union territories, Delhi and Chandigarh, no state spends more than one per cent of its total annual expenditure on the judiciary
• The IJR said most of the states have not fully utilised funds given to them by the Centre and their own increase in spending on the police, prisons, and judiciary has not kept pace with the overall increase in state expenditure.
• In the judiciary, at the subordinate/ district court level, no state met all the three quotas.