Times of India: Nainital: Saturday, July 08, 2017.
Even as the
pendency of cases are mounting in courts across Uttarakhand, as many as 75
judicial posts, including a post of a high court judge, are lying vacant,
reveals an RTI reply.
"There
are a total of 291 sanctioned positions in the state judiciary, including the
high court, of which nearly 25% positions are lying vacant, which the
government should fill shortly to deal with huge pendency of nearly 2.33
lakh," said Nadeemuddin, the activist who had filed an RTI query.
"There
are 10 judges in the high court, out of the total 11 sanctioned
positions," he added.
The shortage
of staff comes at a time when the total pendency in the high court is 32,190
-22,537 civil and 9,653 criminal cases - and nearly 1.99 lakh - more than 1.66
lakh civil and 32,770 criminal cases - in lower courts, reveals RTI.
In December
2014, the total pending cases in the high court were 23,105, which increased to
In lower
courts, the pendency in 2014 was more than 1.45 lakh, which increased to 1.66
lakh in December 2015 and 1.9 lakh in December 2016.
In December
2014, there were 6,436 criminal cases pending in the high court, which
increased to 8,120 in December 2015 and 9,440 (December 2016) and 9,653 (March
2017).
In lower
courts, a total of 1.15 lakh criminal cases were pending in December 2014,
which reached 1.35 lakh in December 2015, 1.58 (December 2016) and 1.66 lakh
(March 2017).
The
Uttarakhand high court got three new judges in May this year - justices Manoj
Tiwari, Lokpal Singh and Sharad Sharma - taking the total count to 10 against
the sanctioned 11 posts.
In September
2016, justice Rajeev Sharma was transferred from the Himachal Pradesh high court
to Uttarakhand.
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