Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday highlighted the pendency of five crore cases in various courts of India and said that there was need to work on steps to reduce this especially in the lower courts.

He made the remarks while addressing the Valedictory Function of the Constitution Day Celebration in the Supreme Court of India.

"There are 70,000 pending cases in SC, about 70 Lakh in High courts and rest in lower judiciary," the Law Minister said and expressed willingness to work the judiciary to reduce the pendency in various courts.

"The pendency of cases in the lower judiciary should be the centre of our attention," the Law Minister said.

He also recommended that cases dealing with women and children need to be dealt with effectively.

He cited BR Ambedkar and said the progress of a community is measured by the degree of the progress of women.

The law minister said that representation of women judges has increased but more distance needs to be travelled for providing diversity in the higher judiciary.

Speaking on the matters of appointment of judges, the law minister said that Union Government is committed to social diversity and has been requesting High Court chief justices to keep in mind the same while sending recommendations for the appointment of judges.

He also said that ease of justice should be an important indicator to measure ease of living. He also pointed out that due to the coordination of judiciary and executive, good success has been achieved.

(with inputs from ANI)