The Hindu : National : Bhardwaj lists steps to clear backlog of cases

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Wednesday, Nov 29, 2006
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Bhardwaj lists steps to clear backlog of cases

Special Correspondent

More judges, starting evening shifts are among them

To convene a meeting of Chief Ministers, Chief Justices of High Courts and Chief Justice of India to agree upon a mutually acceptable system

NEW DELHI: The Centre proposes to appoint 100 judges to various High Courts and is discussing several other proposals including starting an evening shift and reducing the number of holidays in courts to clear the huge backlog of cases, Union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj told the Lok Sabha here on Tuesday.

He said since the appointment of High Court judges had to be done in consultation with the State Governments, their concurrence was being sought.

The Centre was willing to increase the strength of the judges provided the States were ready to pay for them.

He was replying to a calling attention motion moved by G. Karunakara Reddy and V.K. Malhotra of the Bharatiya Janata Party on cases pending in courts.

Mr. Bhardwaj said he would convene a meeting of the Chief Ministers, the Chief Justices of High Courts and the Chief Justice of India to agree upon a mutually acceptable system to clear the backlog of cases.

He said that at times some States express their inability to increase the number of judges, saying they were already facing a financial crunch.

There are 38,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court, 42 lakh in various High Courts and 2.5 crore in subordinate courts. Pointing out that the Government was aware of the problem and its increasing trend, he said the matter of finding remedial measures to reduce the pendency had been discussed with the judiciary and the State Governments from time to time.

Speaker's suggestion

Intervening in the discussion, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee suggested that the number of holidays for the judges could be reduced.

Mr. Bhardwaj said evening shifts have been introduced in Gujarat and some other states have expressed their willingness to follow suit.

The Karnataka High Court has decided to sit on Saturdays for faster disposal of cases.

Uttar Pradesh has 42 lakh cases pending, followed by 40 lakh in Maharashtra, 39 lakh in Gujarat, 19 lakh in West Bengal, 12 lakh in Bihar, 10 lakh in Rajasthan and nine lakh in Andhra Pradesh.

The Government has reduced the shortfall of judges by 172 from 350 in the past two years, Mr. Bhardwaj said. On the other steps taken by the Government, he said a scheme of fast track courts had been extended up to March 31, 2010.

These courts have disposed of 10.42 lakh of 18.21 lakh cases transferred to them.

Mr. Bharadwaj said the Government has initiated a scheme for application of Information and Communication Technology in the courts to facilitate faster justice delivery including faster trials in criminal cases.

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