Chief Justice of India Justice T S Thakur has said, the mismatch between the number of judges required and their actual strength is enormous, leading to huge pendency of court cases. <br/><br/>In his address at the Mediation Awareness Programme for Judicial Officers at the Madras High Court premises in Chennai on Saturday, he said the Centre would be asked to make efforts for the recruitment of more judicial officers in the country in conformity with the need. <br/><br/>A Law Commission report in 1987 assessed the need for 40,000 judicial officers, though it remains a distant dream, he remarked and said the availability is only 18,000 now. <br/><br/>Justice Thakur asked the judicial officers to identify potential cases for resolving through alternate dispute redressal mechanisms like mediations and lok adalats, saying, they have served to reduce the burden of cases from courts.