A plethora of problems

By Jaya Bhardwaj

The ever-increasing number of litigants and lawyers, lack of basic amenities and shortage of space handicap the efficient functioning of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The number of petitions filed in the different courts has registered an alarming increase in the past few years. According to lawyers, the way petitions are being filed before this apex court of the region, it is in danger of turning into a Kachi Peshi (Regular Second Appeal) court. They are also sore about the lack of even basic facilities to the litigants visiting the courts. The matter has been taken up with the Bar Association many times but to no avail.

Much has changed since the shifting of the court to Chandigarh. Jawaharlal Nehru had inaugurated the High Court on March 19, 1955. At that time there were only nine courts. The number has now risen to 40. The Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association has written to the Central Government to increase the number of judges to 80 keeping in view the increase in the number of petitions. As a matter of fact, 17 posts of judge are lying vacant currently against the sanctioned strength of 40 judges, according to Gian Chand Garg Dhuriwala, president of the Bar Association since 1990.

According to an estimate, 400 to 500 petitions are filed everyday in different courts. Besides, there is a huge number of pending cases. "If the trend is not curbed,the day is not far when this court will be known as Kachi Peshi court", says Ram Lal Gupta, recalling one of his cases (filed in 1979) pertaining to a marriage matter that is still pending in the court. Of course, very few of these petitions are admitted but they do become files and make their way to the record room of the court which is already full to the brim.

The condition of the record room is pathetic and it does not have enough space to accommodate any more files. The roof of the record room starts leaking whenever it rains and termites have damaged many of the files.

"I had visited the record room some time back along with court officials and there has been some improvement after that," claims Dhuriwala. He is also concerned about the increasing human and vehicular pressure on the court premises.

One of the oldest employees of the court says that when he had joined service in the early sixties there were only four or five cars and an equal number of two- wheelers. Things have drastically changed since then. Today, more than 2,000 vehicles roll in and out of the parking area of the court premises every day. The shortage of parking space is so acute that all adjoining roads are used as parking spaces by these vehicles. The Bar has demanded the construction of a multi-storey parking for vehicles. It has demanded that more land adjoining the High Court should be allotted to it for its smooth functioning.

Not only vehicles but advocates too have increased manifold in the recent past. The Bar, which started with 50 to 60 members, now has 4000 members on its rolls. The number of employees, however, is almost the same, according to Bar room details. According to a rough estimate, approximately 5,000 litigants visit the courts everyday.

Senior lawyers attribute this rush to the filing of regular second appeals, which takes up the maximum time of the courts. They remember that there was time when no Kachi Peshis (RSA) were allowed after 11 or 11.30 am. But now there is no time limit and RSA’s are filed till the rising of the court. These peshis have increased the pendency list of courts manifold, say lawyers.

Facilities for advocates and petitioners have not increased in the same proportion as the increase in their number. There is no waiting room in the court premises for litigants. Sometimes, the litigants have to wait for their turn in court for the whole day. But there is no canteen for them to have their lunch or snacks. The number of toilets, too, is insufficient and this causes a lot of filth around the premises.

The Bar room has also become overcrowded and there is hardly any space left for even the advocates. For women lawyers, who are 250 in number, a separate Bar room should be constructed, says the Bar President.

Though nobody has the exact data, lawyers say that there must be lakhs of cases pending in different courts. Most of the cases pertain to civil matters.