Chief Justice of India TS Thakur broke down on Saturday in Delhi while addressing a joint conference of chief ministers and chief justices of high courts, reported ANI. He was talking about the nominal number of judges in the current judicial system who are left to deal with the avalanche of cases. Prime Minister Narendra Modi quickly responded, assuring Thakur that the Centre will work with the judiciary to resolve the crisis.

Thakur said there was stark inaction on the part of the Executive to increase the number of judges from 21,000 to 40,000. "...and therefore, it is not only in the name of a litigant or people languishing in jails, but also in the name of development of the country, its progress that I beseech you to rise to the occasion and realise it is not enough to criticise. You cannot shift the entire burden on the judiciary," Thakur said in a choking voice. He got emotional as he said that since 1987, when the Law Commission had recommended increasing the number of judges from then 10 judges per 10 lakh people to 50, “nothing has moved”. Right now, the country has 15 judges for every 10 lakh people, reported Hindustan Times.

Referring to Modi's "Make in India" campaign, he said that though the government is asking people to invest in India, it is not doing much to improve the judicial system, which is languishing under an overwhelming load of pending cases and short staff. Thakur said the judicial system is an integral part for development of a nation.