Continuing to express concern over low judge-population ratio in the country, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur today said we require more than 70,000 judges to clear pending cases. He said the matter was brought to the notice of prime Minister recently with a plea to make the appointments quickly. <br/><br/>Justice Thakur was addressing a gathering of legal luminaries on the occasion of centennial celebrations of the first sitting of the circuit bench of High Court for Odisha at Cuttack. He said access to justice is a fundamental right and governments cannot afford to deny it to the people. <br/><br/>The CJI said shortage of judges is one of the formidable challenges the judiciary is facing in the country now as the country today has only 18,000 judges.<br/><br/>At least ten judges of the Supreme Court and several judges of Calcutta, Patna and Jharkhand High Courts are participating in the centennial celebrations, which will continue for a week with seminars, conferences and cultural programmes lined up for the occasion.<br/><br/>