Panaji, Aug 23 : Chief Justice of India, B.R. Gavai, on Saturday called for taking legal aid to the remotest areas in the country to educate people about their rights and asked stakeholders to help strengthen the legal education infrastructure in mofussil colleges.

Speaking at an event at V.M. Salgaocar College of Law, CJI Gavai said, 'Unless the citizens know that they have the right to legal remedy, the remedy or the right will be of no help to them.'

CJI Gavai recalled his early days when he took part in legal aid camps in places in the Northeast and states like Rajasthan along the Indo-Pakistan border.

Inspiring students to work for society, he said, 'You are the future of tomorrow's India.'

He said exam results alone do not determine success, but it is 'your determination, your hard work and your commitment that matter.'

Appreciating the innovative measures taken by the V.M. Salgaocar College of Law for supporting young lawyers, CJI Gavai said, 'Maybe other law colleges can emulate the experiment of giving three rooms to young lawyers for use as chambers for practice.'

The CJI also stressed the need to maintain high standards in legal education. 'These days there is a lot of focus on National Law Universities but I believe other colleges are also producing bright students. But stakeholders should strengthen legal education infrastructure in mofussil colleges.'

The CJI's call to young legal professionals to give something back to society comes at a time when the number of pending cases in courts has been rising steadily.

As per official data up to July 21 available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), Indian courts are burdened with 5.29 crore pending cases, with the maximum number of 4.65 crore cases pending in district and subordinate courts.

There are 63.30 lakh cases pending 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 struggle 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.

'Filling up of vacancies in District and Subordinate judiciary falls within the domain of the State/UT governments and High Courts concerned,' according to a statement by the Law and Justice Ministry.

/IANS