Samaan Lateef
Srinagar: More than eight thousands cases are waiting disposal for over 10 years in different courts of Jammu and Kashmir, taking the total pendency of cases to over 3 lakh.
As per recent report compiled by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court of total 8255 cases pending for over 10 years, the High Court shares 6115 cases while as 2140 cases are pending before District and subordinate courts of the State.
The HC report says the number of over 10-year-old criminal cases pending before High Court is 171 while as the number is 894 in District and Sub-ordinate courts.
The high pendency of cases in different courts of Jammu and Kashmir has confirmed the Supreme Court’s observation that public faith in judicial system has diminished due to delay in disposing off cases.
Chief Justice, N Paul Vasanthakumar on 20th February last year had directed all the courts to list and hear the cases pending for ten or more than ten years on fast track basis. He had also directed all the courts including sub-ordinate courts to file status report within week of all those cases pending for disposal for past ten years.
The report in possession of STATE TIMES revealed that total number of cases pending till September 30, 2015 before different courts of Jammu and Kashmir is 3,12,759 including 1,06,982 before the High Court.
It says the total number of criminal cases pending before different courts is 1,29,316 including 1,21,687 cases before the District and Sub-ordinate courts.
The number of 5-10 year old cases in the different courts, the report says, is 37,682 including 26,413 cases before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
Of these 37,682 cases, atleast 6737 criminal cases are pending before Sub-ordinate courts while as number of pending criminal cases in High Court is 751.
The number of 1-5 year old cases pending before different courts is 1,17,060 while as number of 0-5 year old cases is 1,49,762, the official document revealed. On number of adjournments granted on an average in various categories of civil and criminal cases during the life cycle of a case, the report says some fresh cases are disposed off at first stage without adjournment while as some get over 25 adjournments.
The court report says the disposal of cases per judge in the High Court is 855 including 53 criminal cases while in District and sub-ordinate courts the disposal of cases per judge is 1136 including 937 criminal cases.
It says from 1st January to 30th September, last year 8062 writ petitions and 140 Public Interest Litigations were filed before the High Court, of which 7062 writ petitions and 133 PILs were disposed off.
The report says the data compiled in different categories provide an insight to the work load of the courts at different levels and the work accomplished by the courts. “The date also provides platform for assessing the infrastructure requirement for smooth running of the court business,” said the High Court report.
