Supreme Court is hearing a matter relating to inhuman conditions in 1,382 prisons (File)
Overcrowding in jails is connected to "performance of courts", the Supreme Court observed Wednesday and said it will pass directions to deal with the issue affecting 1,341 prisons in the country which house 4.68 lakh inmates as against the sanctioned strength of 3.83 lakh.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, said it will also pass a direction to effectively deal with the problem of shortage of staffers in jails "which are on an average 30 to 40 per cent" of the sanctioned strength.
The problem was "connected to the performance of the courts and will have to be tackled", the bench said, taking note of the issue of overcrowding in prisons.
It asked the centre, represented by Additional Solicitor General ANS Nadkarni, to take instructions and apprise it as to how they are going to address the immediate concerns of filling up vacancies in jails and over-crowding in them as highlighted by the prison reforms committee headed by former apex court judge Justice Amitava Roy.
"We will pass orders after two weeks on the issues of overcrowding in jails and filling up of vacancies," said the bench, also comprising Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant, as the law officer sought time for taking instructions.
"ANS Nadkarni, Additional Solicitor General, prays for time to obtain instructions on the preliminary report of the Supreme Court Committee on Prison Reforms especially on the issues such as filling up of vacancies in the prisons and over-crowding of prisons. Prayer is allowed. Put up after two weeks," the bench said in its order.
The top court is hearing a matter relating to inhuman conditions in 1,382 prisons across India after it had taken suo motu (on its own) cognizance of a letter written way back in 2013.
The top court-appointed Justice Roy panel in its report has given report on the problems faced by prisons across the country and suggested probable directions which can be passed as remedial measures.
"A total of 1,341 prisons are presently functional in India as on November 30, 2018...and the total population of prisoners in India as on November 30, 2018 is 4.68 lakh against the total sanctioned strength of 3.83 lakh," the report said.
"From 2016 to 2018, the total prison population in India has increased by 8.2 per cent against an increase of 0.7 per cent in prison sanctioned capacity," it said.
In 2017, the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) had placed a data which had said that the holding capacity of jails in the country was around 3.78 lakh and the actual number of inmates lodged was 4.19 lakh.
"Seven states, namely Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Delhi have an occupancy rate of 150 per cent," the report said.