DNA:
Mumbai: Monday, 19 January 2015.
The state
government has issued a resolution (GR) creating 179 additional posts of judges
in the lower court, its support staff and sanctioned a budget of Rs48.41 crore
for the purpose. But the question remains whether this is sufficient to help
speedy disposal of pending cases, which are more than 3.65 lakh as of March
2014.
What does
the Resolution read?
According to
the GR, there are 1,781 judges in the lower judiciary. As per the directions of
the Bombay high court, an additional 10% of these posts, i.e. 179, are created.
The number of judges in the state will rise from the existing 1,781 to 1,960.
Also, 751 posts for support staff is created.
What
budget has been sanctioned?
To meet the
additional expenditure, a budget of Rs48.41 crore has been sanctioned. The GR
reads that there would be a requirement of vehicles, petrol, furniture, books,
etc.
Why has
this move come about?
This
development comes in compliance with a Bombay HC order, which had directed the
state to appoint more judges, in pursuance to a supreme court judgment in the
case of Brijmohan v/s Union of India. In this 2012 case, the SC had asked all
the states to increase the judges' posts by an additional 10%.
Advocatespeak
Advocate
Ganesh Sovani said that the ratio of judges to per lakh population in India is
'palpable poor', as compared to western countries. "The filing of
litigation is not going to stop. Hence, there is a need to work out
pre-litigation settlement or mediation system like in the West. This will help
clear backlog faster," said Sovani.
Another
advocate practicing in the HC said that high pendency of cases has always been
an issue. "With increasing litigation, there was a need for more judges to
dispose of the cases faster. Now, hopefully, the disposal rate of cases will be
speedy," said advocate Jamshed Mistry.
How old
are the pending cases?
As per
information received under the Right to Information (RTI) by an activist, there
are a total of 3,65,418 cases pending in various magistrate courts across
Mumbai, as of March 31 last year. Of these, around 43,647 cases were more than
10 years old, while 72,047 cases were pending for over five years.
The RTI reply
also states that last year, a total of 2,19,842 cases were disposed of, while
in 2012, the number was 3,49,116.
What do
the pending cases pertain to?
An affidavit
filed by the state recently said that lower courts have over 56,000 pending
cases of crimes against women. Of these, 11,074 cases are pending with the
sessions court and 45,057 with the magistrates' courts.
There are
nearly 90,000 cases of motor accident claims, say the government stats.
Moreover, 3,768 pending cases pertain to crime
against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, while 3,336 cases were lodged
under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Why was
the order to increase posts passed?
The HC order
was passed while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activist
Vihar Durve, seeking that the government be directed to implement the SC order
and accordingly, increase the posts of judges in the state.
The PIL
sought the establishment of additional fast track courts to try cases of crime
against women, which are on the rise.
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