Case pendency in Chandigarh District Courts shoots up to 1 lakh in four years

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, June 20

The pending cases in the Chandigarh District Courts have crossed the figure of one lakh in the last four years, an increase by almost 50 per cent with the total number of pending cases touching 1, 14, 166 on June 19.

The number of pending cases was 51,101 in July 2020, while it was 63,407 in June 2021. The backlog of cases has increased by 50,759 in the last three years. As per the latest data available, of the total pending cases in the district courts, 90,829 are criminal cases while 23,337 are civil ones.

Of the total pending cases, approximately 52.72 per cent (60,185) cases have been pending for one year. Of these, 50,287 are criminal and 9,898 civil. Around 35,492 cases are pending for one to three years. Of these, 28,727 are criminal and 6,765 civil. A many as 12,983 cases have been pending for three-five years, while 5,285 cases are pending for five to 10 years. Around 212 cases are pending for 10-20 years and only eight cases are pending for 20 to 30 years. Of these, three are criminal while five are civil in nature.

Munish Dewan, an advocate and former vice-president of the District Bar Association, Chandigarh, said there was need to take urgent steps to stop the further increase in case pendency.

He said besides increasing the infrastructure, there was need to rely more on the mediation and counselling for ending the litigation. He further said the frequency of holding Lok Adalats was also required to be increased. Efforts must be made to hold them on monthly basis. He added that civil matters like matrimonial and the cheque-bounce cases could be easily solved through mediation.

Ajay Jagga, an advocate, said time had come to seriously think about reversing the pendency in litigation. He said there was need to use artificial intelligence in court cases. He said by using technology like video conferencing and e-courts, the speed of the disposal of the cases could be increased. There are many pending cases which can be solved through arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution mechanism, he added.

Rajesh Sharma, also an advocate, said to reduce case pendency proper planning was required at all levels. Regular meetings should be held between the Bar and Bench to chalk out short-term and long-term strategy to reduce the pendency.