Pendency UPA legacy: Law min hits back after Rahul's 'fake news' jibe

New Delhi: Hours after Congress President Rahul Gandhi lashed out at Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad over the collapsing legal system, Prasad hit back saying that "pendency is the legacy of the UPA government".

He said the Congress chief was "worried" over the notice given to Cambridge Analytica for data manipulation.

Gandhi was dragging judiciary into the issue as he was "angry, frustrated and apprehensive", he added.

Rahul Gandhi had said in a tweet on Saturday that while a staggering 400 high court and 6,000 lower court judges were not appointed, the law minister was preoccupied peddling fake news.

"Legal system collapsing under Pending Cases: Supreme Court 55,000 + High Court 37 Lakh + Lower Courts 2.6 Crore + Yet, a staggering 400 High Court and 6,000 Lower Court judges not appointed, while Law Minister preoccupied peddling fake news," the tweet read.

Also Read: Legal system collapsing, but law min busy peddling fake news: Rahul

Reacting to Gandhi's claim, the Law minister mocked saying that the Congress chief and his team had failed to do the "homework" yet again.

Unfolding the statistics on the number of pending cases, Prasad said the average appointments of high court judges under UPA-1 was 86 per year, and in UPA-2 it was 79 per year, while, under NDA it has been 109 per year.

"In 2016 a record 126 High Court Judges were appointed in one year- highest since independence. Since May 2014 NDA Govt appointed 17 SC Judges, 326 HC judges & made 304 additional judges permanent & also created 173 new posts of High Court Judges, compared to 20 created in UPA 2," he tweeted.

Prasad said pendency was the legacy which UPA government of 10 years had given the country where judicial infrastructure development was the lowest priority. 

He said the BJP was trying to improve the situation by creating more infrastructure, digitisation and greater technology application in the disposal of cases.

With the war of words between the Congress and the BJP over the data breach by Cambridge Analytica refusing to subside, Ravi Shankar Prasad had earlier on Thursday alleged that the Congress used the services of “disgraced” firm, Cambridge Analytica during the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections.

The Union minister implied that the Congress came up with the viral catch phrases “Gabbar Singh Tax” and “Vikas Gone Crazy” with the help of the data analysis firm.

Also Read: Cambridge Analytica behind Rahul's 'Gabbar Singh Tax', implies I-T minister

The Congress and the BJP have blamed each other after it emerged that the scandal involving Cambridge Analytica - a London-based data firm accused of accessing data of millions of Facebook users to help elect US President Donald Trump in 2016 - could have links to electoral process in India.