E-Paper
603,193 cases pending in Pune district court
As many as 603,193 civil and criminal cases are pending before the Pune district court, as per statistics provided by the central government’s National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) e-court scheme
As many as 603,193 civil and criminal cases are pending before the Pune district court, as per statistics provided by the central government’s National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) e-court scheme.
The NJDG is a part of the ongoing e-courts integrated mission mode project and is working as a monitoring tool to identify, manage and reduce the pendency of cases.
According to data, 161,920 civil and 441,273 criminal cases are pending in Pune district court.
Though the courts were shut during the Covid-19 period, the judicial work gained momentum once life resumed back to normalcy a year ago. According to the lawyers, the pendency has increased over the years due to common factors like lack of basic amenities, shortage of judges and judicial officers, transfer of public prosecutors, time taken by the police and investigating agencies to submit the chargesheet in the courts, absence of witnesses during court hearings etc.
During the pandemic, most of the hearings were shut and only important cases were taken up for hearing by the courts and it too had caused an increase in the number of pending cases number at the district level.
Advocate Milind Pawar, a senior lawyer at the bar, said that there is additional stress on the courts as there is a shortage of judges in tackling the number of cases being lodged daily.
“The power of technology must be used to ensure that pendency is reduced considerably. There is also a need to train the judiciary and the staff in the finer nuances of technology and new skill sets which will have a cascading impact and save the time of the litigants. If the police and the prosecutors provide necessary assistance in criminal cases then the cases can be decided expeditiously,” he said.
Impacts of judicial pendency
*Denial of ‘timely justice’ amounts to denial of ‘justice’ itself
*Timely disposal of cases is essential to maintain rule of law and provide access to justice.
*Speedy trial is a part of right to life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
*Erodes social infrastructure
*Affects human rights
*Overcrowding of the prisons
*infrastructure deficient
*Violation of human rights
