Lok Sabha Question No. 2890 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-02
Subject: Rate of Disposal of Cases
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: RAJENDRA AGRAWAL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2890

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 02 ND  AUGUST, 2017.

## Rate of Disposal of Cases

## 2890. SHRI RAJENDRA AGRAWAL:

## Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the average disposal of cases by a High Court judge in a day;
- (b) whether on an average, cases have taken 10 to 15 years to be disposed of in the High Courts;
- (c) if  so, the reasons for such inordinate delay and whether any system has been put in place for timely disposal of cases and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government has taken any concrete action plan to improve the rate of disposal of the cases and efficacy of the system; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof along with the success achieved as a result thereof, so far?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (e): The average time taken for disposal of  a  case depends on several factors such as category  of  the  case  (civil  or  criminal),  complexity  of  the  circumstances  and  facts involved,  nature  and  availability  of  evidences,  co-operation  of  various  stake-holders viz . bar,  investigation  agencies,  witnesses  and  litigants  besides  the  availability  of  physical infrastructure, supporting court staff and applicable rules and procedures.  Hence, average disposal of cases differs from case to case and from High Court to High Court.  It may not be practicable to compare the time taken for disposal of cases by various High Courts in the  country  due  to  involvement  of  several  factors.    The  courts  operate  in  different environment  on  account  of  difference  in  availability  of  infrastructure  facilities,  use  of technology, number of availability of Judges, docket ratio, provisions of substantive laws and procedures in courts.

The Government does not maintain data on average disposal of cases per judge and the average time taken for disposal.  However,  during the period  from 01 st October,

2015 to 30 th September, 2016, 15.86 lakh cases were disposed off by the High Courts having working strength of 597 Judges (as on 30.09.2016), which works out as average disposal of 2,657 cases by a High Court Judge during this period.

Disposal  of  cases  pending  in  courts  is  within  the  domain  of  Judiciary.    The Government has adopted a co-ordinated approach to assist judiciary for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial systems, which, inter-alia , involves better infrastructure for courts including computerisation, increase in strength of judicial officers / judges, policy and  legislative  measures  in  the  areas  prone  to  excessive  litigation  and  emphasis  on human resource development.

During the Joint Conference of Chief Ministers of States and Chief Justices of the High Courts held at New Delhi in April 2015, reduction of pendency and backlog of cases in  courts  emerged as  an area  which required focused  attention at  the High  Court level. The Chief Justices of the High Courts in the Conference held on 03 rd and 04 th April 2015 have resolved that each High Court shall establish an Arrears Committee, which would go into the factors responsible for the delays and prepare an action plan to clear the backlog of cases pending for more than five years.  It was further resolved in the Conference of Chief Justices of the High Courts held in April, 2016, that in order to ensure expeditious disposal  of  cases  pertaining  to  women,  marginalized  segments,  senior  citizens  and differently-abled,  steps  be  taken  to  (a)  prioritize  the  disposal  of  cases  falling  in  these categories within the existing court system; (b) an endeavour be made to revisit the cadre strength of subordinate courts and, where necessary, create additional courts to deal with such cases.  As per information available, Arrears Committees have been set up by the High Courts.

In  addition  to  the  above,  following  steps  have  also  been  taken  by  the  Central Government in the matter.

- (i) The  sanctioned  strength  of  Judges  of  High  Courts  has  been  increased  from  906 judges to 1079 judges.   Total  173 posts were sanctioned between June 2014 and May, 2016.
- (ii) The sanctioned strength of the subordinate judiciary has been increased from 20,174 at the end of 2014 to 22,288 in December, 2016.
- (iii) National  Legal  Services  Authority  (NALSA)  provides  mechanisms  for  access  to justice for poor people in India, under the overall supervision of the Chief Justice of India  as  the  Patron-in  Chief.    It  organised  the  National  Lok  Adalat  in  July,  2017. More than 9.97 lakh cases including  5.33 lakh  pending cases  and 4.64 lakhs  prelitigation cases with the settlement amount of Rs.2,925 crores were disposed.
- (iv) 1824 redundant Central Acts have been identified for repeal.  So far,  around 1200 Acts have been repealed.
- (v) The Government has launched a nation-wide drive to reduce the number of cases pending in courts by curtailing the Government litigation.  The Minister of Law and Justice has written on 10 th April, 2017 to all Ministers of Central Ministries and Chief Ministers  of  States  to  launch  ' special  arrears  clearance  drives '  to  reduce  pending cases and minimize fresh litigations.
- (vi) Based  on  the  proposals  received  from  the  High  Court  Collegium,  during  the year 2016,  126  fresh  appointment of  Judges in  High  Courts  and  131  Additional Judges were made permanent, which is the highest number of appointments made in a given year.    In  addition,  the  tenure  of  22  Additional  Judges  of  High  Courts  was  also extended.    Besides,  based  on  the  proposal  received  from  the  Supreme  Court Collegium,  4  judges  were  appointed  in  the  Supreme  Court  in  2016.    During  the current  year  (2017),  05  Judges  have  been  appointed  in  the  Supreme  Court,  75 Judges have been appointed in the High Courts and 28 Additional Judges have been made  Permanent.  Besides,  08  Chief  Justices  have  been  appointed  in  the  High Courts.
- (vii) The 14 th Finance Commission has endorsed the proposal to strengthen the judicial system  in  States  which  includes, inter-alia ,  establishing  1800  Fast  Track  Courts (FTCs) for a period of five years for cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens,  women,  children,  disabled  and  litigants  affected  with  HIV  AIDS  and  other terminal  ailments;  and  civil  disputes  involving  land  acquisition  and  property  /  rent disputes pending for more than five years at a cost of Rs. 4,144 Crores.  The 14 th Finance Commission has urged State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided by the Commission in the tax devolution to meet such requirements.  The Hon'ble Minister for Law and Justice has written to all Chief Ministers on 02 nd May, 2017 to make available the fund recommended by the 14 th Finance Commission to judiciary and to furnish the status of the implementation of the recommendations of the 14 th Finance Commission.
- (viii) As per the resolution adopted in the Joint Conference held in New Delhi on 24 th April, 2016, the Government vide its letter dated 26 th September, 2016 requested the State Governments to strengthen the institutional mechanism between the State and the Judiciary  where  the  Chief  Secretary  and  his  team  and  2  or  3  Judges  of  the  High Court to regularly meet and monitor utilisation of plan fund and timely completion of infrastructure  and  eCourts  Mission  Mode  project.    The  States  have  also  been requested  to  assist  Judiciary  in  preparing  perspective  /  annual  plan  for  various activities to be undertaken in the justice sector on account of enhanced devolution of funds to the States under the 14 th Finance Commission.  In addition, the States were requested to provide technical manpower for ICT upgradation.
- (ix) The Government vide a letter dated 3 rd February 2017, addressed the Chief Justices of  the  24  High  Courts  requesting  them  to  advise  the  district  judiciary  to  ensure effective  implementation  of  Section  436A  Code  of  Criminal  Procedure  and  ensure periodic monitoring of the associated Undertrial Review Committee Mechanism.
- (x) Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Court  Act,  2015  has  been  notified  on  1 st January,  2016  to  have  a  streamlined procedure for the conduct of cases in the Commercial Division and in the Commercial Court by amending the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) for commercial cases so as to improve the efficiency and reduce delays in disposal of commercial cases.
- (xi) Necessary amendments have been made to Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 to make  the  award  within  12  months,  to  resolve  the  dispute  through  fast  track procedure, to ensure neutrality of arbitrators, and to restrict usage of the term 'Public Policy of India' (as a ground for challenging the award).
- (xii) The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act 2015 has been notified to clarify the jurisdiction where cases pertaining to dishonour of cheques  may be filed and provide for transfer of cases to the appropriate jurisdiction and consolidation of multiple cases filed in different courts.
- (xiii) The  Minister  of  State  for  Law  and  Justice vide letter  dated  7 th February  2017, addressed the Chief Justices of all the High Courts requesting them to speed up the process  of  implementation  of  e-Court  Project  for  actualising  the  objectives  of  the Project.
- (xiv) The Government has approved a scheme of engaging 227 Nyaya Mitras in States where there are large number of pendency of court cases.  The Nyaya Mitras are required to assist the litigants who are suffering due to delay in investigations or trial, by actively  identifying  such  cases  through  the  National  Judicial  Data  Grid (NJDG).

These Nyaya Mitras are meant to identify the bottlenecks due to which these cases are delayed.

- (xv) The Government has also approved 'two legal aid and empowerment' initiatives:  Pro bono  legal  services  and  Tele  Law  service.    Under  the  Pro  bono  legal  services  an online database of lawyers and eligible litigants has been created.  As on date 140 lawyers  have  enrolled  under  the  scheme  to  provide  free  legal  aid  to  marginalized persons.    Under  the  Tele  Law  service,  legal  aid  is  mainstreamed  through  1800 Common Services Centres in selected Panchayats in U.P., Bihar, States of North East and J & K.  As on date a total of 568 cases have been registered in Tele Law portal for legal aid.
- (xvi) In  pursuance  of  resolution  passed  in  the  Chief  Justices'  Conference  held  in  April, 2015,  High  Courts  have  set  up  Arrears  Committees  to  clear  the  backlog  of  cases pending  for  more  than  five  years.    The  Supreme  Court  has  also  constituted  an Arrears  Committee consisting  of  two  Hon'ble  Judges  to  formulate  steps  to  reduce pendency of cases in High Courts and District Courts.
- (xvii) The  Minister of  State for Law and Justice has also written to all Chief Ministers on July 19, 2017 to use additional fiscal space provided by 14 th Finance Commission to set up Special Courts especially for handling cases pertaining to the crimes against women.

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