More than 40 million cases are pending in the lower courts of India, chief justice N V Ramana said on Saturday, highlighting the backlog of cases in the legal system.

Speaking at a conference attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the chief ministers of several states, N V Ramana said that the courts were falling short of judges crucial to their efficient functioning.

He said, “We have 20 judges per million population, which is highly inadequate to deal with the rising trend of litigation.”

The CJI further mentioned that many of the 24,000 approved positions for judicial officers on the country’s lower courts stay unfilled, though, he did not specify a number.