2021: A court odyssey

CHENNAI: If you institute a civil case in the Madras high court today, it will be most likely be taken up for final disposal only between 2018 and 2021. If you file a writ petition, then it will come up for final disposal in 2017. In case of a writ appeal, the final disposal is likely in 2013-14. That pretty much sums up the backlog which the judiciary is saddled with. In criminal matters, the chances of your case reaching a conclusion at the high court are better — it will take only a year or two if it is a grave offence and the accused is still in jail. But of course, the time your case takes to reach the high court and the time it will take in the Supreme Court, if an appeal is filed, is extra. Going by the court's current pace of disposal, writ and civil matters would require at least a decade for completion. The scenario is likely to worsen further because despite a very high disposal ratio per judge, the backlog keeps increasing every year as an equal or more new cases pile up. The Madras high court is right now hearing writ petitions of 1999 vintage, writ appeals of 2002-03, civil cases of 1995 to 1998 origin and second appeals of 1998. Mercifully, criminal cases of 2006 and 2007 are nearing the final hearing stages. The year 2007 started with a pendency rate of about 4.07 lakh cases in the high court. At the end of the year, i.e. as on December 31, 2007, there were 4,28,832 cases pending. It means, despite having disposed of about 2.32 lakh cases during the year, the pendency position did not improve because more than 2.53 lakh new cases were filed between January 1 and December 31 of 2007. Actually, the backlog of cases increased by over 22,000 in 12 months. Putting things in perspective, chief justice A P Shah recently said though between 2005 and 2007 the rate of disposal of cases by the Madras high court was much more than the national average “the arrears were continuously mounting.” Stressing on the need to sustain the legal system's ability to deliver justice, he said, “there can be no justice in a system in which cobwebs and dust gather over paper books, which are lying unattended for a decade.” On the same occasion, he also called for an addition of at least 20 judges to the existing sanctioned strength of 49. Shah's call must have been heeded. In tune with the national trend of augmenting the number of judges in various courts, the Madras high court is all set to have at least 11 additional posts. The state and Central governments have cleared the proposal to increase sanctioned strength for the court from 49 to 60. Sources said the Central notification would coincide with the arrival of a new chief justice to the Madras high court. The incumbent chief justice has already been cleared for appointment as chief justice of the Delhi high court. There is, however, no plan to increase posts for judicial officers in the subordinate judiciary although the recruitment process to fill up existing vacancies had already begun. Registry authorities, aware of the mounting arrears and the consequent delay in disposal, concede that several measures such as holding lok adalats more frequently and on a much larger scale, establishing fast track magistrate courts and civil courts, and tightening norms for admission of new cases would definitely help tide over the crisis. Increasing the number of court working days is another option before the judiciary. However, as against the 220 working days in 2007, the Madras high court has resolved to work only for 210 days this year. This, when the Delhi high court has increased the number of working days to 240. Even the Supreme Court had decided to work for 200 days this year, as against just 190 last year. The Madras high court, however, has decided to work upto 4.45 pm daily, thus extending schedules by 15 minutes. Referring to the efficacy of the alternative dispute resolution mechanism, a court official said a maha lok adalat conducted by the Madurai bench of the court in April 2006 saw the disposal of over 10,000 cases. A similar exercise in select areas, especially with regard to cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act for dishonoured cheques, will decongest judicial magistrate courts as well as other courts grappling with a large volume of such cases.
21 Apr 2008, 0525 hrs IST , A Subramani , TNN
TIMES OF INDIA