PENDENCY OF CASES IN COURTS OF THE COUNTRY
The problem of stupendous pendency of cases in the Courts of the country was also taken up at the administrative and political level by writing to the Prime Minister, Ministers of the Govt. of India and Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha). A copy of the letter was also sent to the President of India requesting him to advise the Council of Ministers in an appropriate manner to take such steps as to ensure that cases are disposed of in courts in a time bound manner. The letter is reproduced below:-
February 20, 2005
To
- Hon'ble Prime Minister, PMO, South Block, New Delhi – 110 011.
- Ministers of the Government of India .
3) Members of Parliament (Rajya Sabha & Lok Sabha)
Sub: Pendency of cases in the Courts.
Hon'ble Prime Minister, Union Ministers and Members of Parliament,
From COMMON CAUSE we are addressing this letter to distinguished Central Government political functionaries of the country. It is on the important subject of huge pendency of cases in the courts. It is very unfortunate that cases over the years have accumulated to an extent in the Courts that it inevitably highlights the principle that justice delayed is justice denied.
We give below facts and figures of pending cases as reported in the Annual Report 2003-2004 of Ministry of Law & Justice :
Supreme Court = 24,901
High Courts of the States = 35,28,868
District & Subordinate Courts = 2,27,57,693
of the States
These are figures of the pendency as on 31.3.2004. The pendency must have further increased during the last 10/11 months in the District & Subordinate Courts. The number of ten years old pending cases are 53,51,580 and those less than three years old are 1,62,73,769.
This huge pendency of Civil and Criminal cases in the Courts inevitably distorts the dispensation of justice. Pendency of three crore cases implies the involvement of three crore individuals/families on one side and similar number on the other side. If each family has about 4/5 members, it would imply that almost 15 to 20 crores people are affected by pendency of these cases i.e., almost about one-fifth of the total population of the country is in some form or the other affected by the pending cases.
We request the Hon'ble Prime Minister, Union Ministers and the Member of Parliament to kindly give consideration to this serious matter for determining ways and means to overcome the delays of dispensation of justice, and to expedite disposal of cases. There has been mention of some Fast Track Courts having been created for the purpose of disposal of long pending cases in the districts. On the initiative of the Department of Justice, the Finance Commission is reported to have recommended a scheme for creation of 1734 additional courts in the country for disposal of long pending cases, particularly those which have been pending for more than two years and those where under-trials are in jails. At present there are stated to be about 2 lakh under-trials in jails, 18 percent having been in jails for more than one year. By the end of 2004, 1652 Fast Track Courts are reported to have been established and they disposed of 3,70,504 cases.
Supreme Court has emphasised in a judgement that huge accumulation of undecided cases in the Courts has been due to inadequate strength of Judges as compared to the population. The Judge strength ratio in India is stated to be 10.5 per 10 lakh people. The Supreme Court is of the view that the strength of Judges should, in the first instance, be increased to 50 Judges for 10 lakh people, and that this increase should be effected within the next 2/3 years in all States, and appointment of Judges and Magistrates should be effected without any delay.
Pendency of huge backlog of cases, and delay in dispensation of Justice, cause extreme exasperations to the people besides bringing bad name to the country. We urge the Hon'ble Prime Minister, Union Ministers and Members of Parliament to kindly give serious consideration to this entire matter and determine the ways and means of remedying these serious problems. It may perhaps be necessary to set up a high-level Commission for making recommendations and taking the decision to ensure that achievement of the target of 50 Judges per 10 lakh people is effected within the next 2/3 years, with direction to them to operate as Fast Track Courts for quick disposal of the pending cases. Monthly Reports should be collected by the Department of Law & Justice about progress made in each district and the matter should be reported to the Parliament every six months.
We hope that our suggestions will be given serious consideration by the Hon'ble Prime Minister, Union Ministers and Members of Parliament and that appropriate and requisite decisions will be taken.
______________
Quite a number of Members of Parliament have sent their replies expressing their concern with the seriousness of the problem of huge Pendency of cases in the Courts of the country. The respondents include former Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Foreign Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, among others. Some of them have stated that they will raise the issue of Pendency of cases in Courts in the Parliament. A few members have addressed individual letters in this regard to Mr. H. R. Bhardwaj, Union Minister of Law and Justice.
