Srinagar, July 5: There are nearly one lakh seventy thousands cases pending before various courts in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the information divulged by minister of law and justice, communications and electronics & information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad, among 169089 cases, 71954 are civil while 97135 are criminal.
Across the country, he said there is total pendency of 31058052 cases, 8794400 civil and 22263652 criminal cases.
He said that no time frame has been prescribed for disposal of various kinds of cases by the respective courts. “Government has no role in disposal of cases in courts. The Central Government is fully committed to speedy disposal of cases in accordance with Article 21 of the Constitution and reducing pendency,” he said.
The Government, he said, has taken several initiatives to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary. The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms established by the Government has adopted a coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration through various strategic initiatives, including improving infrastructure for
courts, leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for better justice delivery, and filling up of vacant positions of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court.
According to Economic Survey 2018-19 released yesterday, India needs additional 8,521 judges in the next five years to clear the backlog.
Regarding filling up of vacant positions in Supreme Court, High Courts and District and Subordinate Courts, the minister said from 1 May 2014 to 24 June this year, 31 Judges were appointed in top court while 454 new Judges were appointed and 366 Additional Judges were made permanent in the High Courts. He said sanctioned strength of Judges of High Courts has been increased from 906 in May, 2014 to 1079 currently.
The minister also counted “major achievements” during the last five years under various initiatives to make the functioning of judiciary more efficient and it included improving infrastructure for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts. As on date, he said, Rs.6, 986.50 crores have been released since the inception of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in 1993-94. “Out of this, 3,542.20crores (which are 50.70% of the total amount released till date) have been released to the States and UTs since April, 2014.
He said the number of court halls has increased from 15,818 as on 30.06.2014 to 19,101 as on date and number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 16,777 as on date under this scheme. “In addition, 2,879 court halls and 1,886 residential units are under construction. The Central Government has approved continuation of the Scheme beyond the 12th Five Year Plan period i.e. from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020 with an estimated additional outlay of Rs.3, 320 crore.” (GNS)
