India Justice Report: Odisha Excels in Prisons but Vacancies Soar
India Justice Report 2025 !(Image credit Pradeep Kumar Panda)
India Justice Report 2025: Odisha Struggles to Fill Reserved Jobs in Judiciary
By Pradeep Kumar Panda
Bhubaneswar, April 16, 2025: The 2025 India Justice Report (IJR), India’s only ranking of states on delivery of justice in the country, ranks Odisha 6th in Prisons and 8th in Police, while overall it was ranked 8th among the 18 Large and Mid-sized states (with population of over one crore each).
Odisha improved its rank from 11 in 2022 to 8 in 2024. The state recorded a 30 per cent increase in prison budget allocation and utilized over 90 per cent, nearly one in every two district court judges and added 10 per cent prison capacity, the highest in the country, thereby ensuring no overcrowding.
The India Justice Report (IJR) was first initiated by Tata Trusts, with the first ever ranking published in 2019. This is the fourth edition of the report, in collaboration with partners including the Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, TISS–Prayas, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, and How India Lives, IJR’s data partner.
The IJR 2025, similar to the previous three, has tracked the performance of states in capacitating their Justice delivery structures to effectively deliver mandated services. Based on the latest official statistics from authoritative government sources, it brings together otherwise siloed data on the four pillars of Justice delivery – Police, Judiciary, Prisons, and Legal Aid.
Each pillar was analysed through the prism of budgets, human resources, workload, diversity, infrastructure, and trends (intention to improve over a five-year period), against the state’s own declared standards and benchmarks. This edition also separately assesses the capacity of the 25 State Human Rights Commissions and consists of essays on mediation and access to justice for persons with disabilities.
Odisha’s Ranks: Pillar Wise
| IJR 4 | IJR 3 | |
| OVERALL | 8 | 11 |
| POLICE | 8 | 4 |
| PRISONS | 6 | 11 |
| JUDICIARY | 12 | 13 |
| LEGAL AID | 8 | 10 |
Improving capacity in prisons
Odisha’s 92 prisons recorded an average occupancy rate of 83 per cent in 2022, down from 99 per cent in 2021. It recorded no prisons with over 250 per cent occupancy and only 2.2 per cent with an occupancy between 150-250% – the lowest among large states.
Budget allocation towards prisons improved by 30 per cent between 2021-22 and 2022-23 and consequently there was a 59 per cent increase in spend per inmate.
However, its prisons run with persistent, overall staff shortfall of 28 per cent. Within the prison staff, nearly half of the medical staff is missing and there is a 63 per cent shortfall among doctors. Correctional staff vacancy stood at 45 per cent.
Increasing vacancies across justice system
As of 2025 vacancies range from 46 per cent in HC (second highest after Uttar Pradesh) and a 20 per cent vacancy among district court judges. More than one in three HC staff was missing. In police, as of 2023, Odisha had 22 per cent vacancy in constabulary and 24 per cent among officers. In the Odisha Forensic department, one in every two scientific staff is missing in the forensic labs.
In 2022, the state could meet ST and OBC quotas among the constabulary as it has fulfilled since 2016. Among ST officers however, there has been a shortfall of over 30 per cent since 2010. Between 2010 and 2022, the state has been unable to meet SC quotas but has shown a steady improvement in filling positions among officers with vacancies reducing from 57 per cent in 2010; 27 per cent in 2016 to 17 per cent in 2022.
In the judiciary, however, Odisha records poor fulfilment of caste quotas. There was an 82 per cent vacancy among SC judges; 98 per cent among ST and 36 per cent among OBC judges. Women accounted for just six per cent among the higher judiciary – well below the 14 per cent national average. In the lower judiciary, nearly half (48 per cent) of all judges were women.
In legal aid, Odisha registered over 85 per cent disposal of cases by Lok Adalats. Women accounted for 69 per cent among DLSA secretaries – the highest in the country – and 38 per cent among PLVs despite their numbers having halved since 2019. There were just 128 legal service clinics for its 48000 villages, averaging to one clinic serving 373 villages.
The IJR 2025 has reiterated both immediate and foundational corrections. It has flagged urgent filling of vacancies and increased representation. To effect irreversible change, it has exhorted that Justice delivery be designated as an essential service.
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