'Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied': 62,000 Cases Pending In High Courts Are Over 30 Years Old

NEW DELHI: There are nearly 62 thousand cases pending in various high courts, which are more than 30 years old, including three awaiting disposal since 1952. According to official data, there are four cases pending since 1954 and nine since 1955 in high courts. Out of the three cases pending since 1952, two are in the Calcutta High Court and one in the Madras High Court.

Addressing the national conference of district judiciary here earlier this week, President Droupadi Murmu had called for a change in the "culture of adjournments' in the judiciary. She said long-standing pendency and backlog of cases is a big challenge before the judiciary.

"All stakeholders have to find a solution by giving priority to this problem," she said. As many as 58.59 lakh cases, including 42.64 lakh of civil nature and 15.94 lakh of criminal nature, are pending across high courts.

According to the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), nearly 2.45 lakh cases are pending in high courts which are 20 to 30 years old.

Addressing the same event, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal had called for breaking the perception that Indian courts follow the "tareekh pe tareekh culture".

He said the law ministry has analysed that there were cases pending since five, 10, 15, 20 and 30 years. He said an analysis of pending cases mentioned on the NJDG shows that parties involved in litigation are either not present or not interested in taking the case forward. He said 25 to 30 per cent of such cases can be closed in one go.

In this regard, some high courts have taken effective steps. Referring to the concepts of 'ageing analysis' and 'clubbing of similar cases', he said these have helped settle pending cases in a time-bound manner.

More than five crore cases are pending in various courts, including district courts, high courts and the Supreme Court.