Big backlog: At 1.49 lakh, pendency of cases at Ludhiana district courts at all time high

On an average, over 500 cases are listed daily; more people are reposing faith in judiciary but shortage of infrastructure, manpower needs to be addressed, says bar body chairperson

A whopping 1,49,987 cases, both civil and criminal, are pending at the Ludhiana district courts. This is an all time high. However, the silver lining is that cases pending for over 10 years and more have declined as these constitute merely 0.23% (351) of the total cases.

The total number of pending cases in Ludhiana district are 43,214 civil and 1,06,773 criminal across court complexes in Ludhiana, Khanna, Payal, Jagraon and Samrala. On an average, each judge in Ludhiana district court is saddled with around 2,400 cases.

The court complex in Ludhiana houses one court of the district and session judge, 18 courts of the additional session judges and 32 courts of judicial magistrates. There are 2,354 civil cases and 8,292 criminal cases pending with the sessions courts in Ludhiana.

When it comes to the lower courts, which cater to civil litigations, the numbers pending with the civil judge senior divisions in Ludhiana is 23,033. Another 87,514 cases (civil and criminal) are pending with the judicial magistrates in Ludhiana.

But even if the required judges are appointed, the existing infrastructure is grossly deficient. For the docket burden of over 1,49,987 pending cases is already overstretching the available infrastructure and resources.

On an average over 500 cases are listed daily in Ludhiana district courts.

According to the district bar association chairman, Pushpinder Singh Ghumman, the high number of cases shows staunch faith of the people in the judiciary. “People are coming to courts seeking justice and filing cases like never before. The number of people thronging to the courts seeking justice has increased and that is the reason for the high number of cases. But the percentage of cases pending for over 10 years has drastically reduced,” he said.

Sources in the court said the maximum volume of cases that are filed consist of cheque bounce and matrimonial disputes.