Pendency of criminal cases higher in District and Taluka courts
Bivek Mathur
JAMMU, Sept 24: With 3, 26, 264 cases pending in the District and Taluka courts and 44, 736 in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court (HC), a total of 3.71 lakh court cases are pending disposal in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Nationally, the pendency in District and Taluka courts is 4, 44, 42, 953, consisting of 1, 10, 89, 259 civil cases and 3, 33, 53, 694 criminal cases. The pendency in High Courts is 60, 78, 594, comprising 43, 65, 076 civil cases and 17, 13, 518 criminal cases. Meanwhile, the pendency in the Apex Court (Supreme Court) is 80, 597 cases, with 63, 081 of civil nature and 17, 516 of criminal nature.
According to the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) data, Jammu and Kashmir has more criminal cases pending in the District and Taluka courts. Out of the total 3, 26, 264 cases pending disposal in the lower courts, 2, 22, 823 (68.29%) are criminal, while the rest, 1, 03, 441, are of civil nature.
Regarding the number and duration-wise pendency of cases in the Taluka and District courts, the highest number, 1, 55, 788 cases (47.57%), have been pending disposal for the last one year, 66,106 (20.26%) for between one and three years, 44,647 (13.68%) for between three to five years, 48,572 (14.89%) for 5 to 10 years, 11,387 (3.49%) for 10 to 20 years, and the least number, 336 (0.1%), for between 20 to 30 years.
Among the total pending cases, 17,574 cases, comprising 14,529 of civil nature and 3,045 of criminal nature, have been filed by senior citizens, and 16,775 cases, comprising 8,611 of civil nature and 8,164 of criminal nature, have been filed by women.
A total of 17,317 cases, with 2,904 of civil nature and 14,413 of criminal nature, have been disposed of in the District and Taluka courts.
As for the pendency in the J&K High Court, more cases of civil nature are pending disposal.
According to official data, out of the total 44, 736 pending cases, the highest number, 36, 575 (81.57%), are of civil nature, while the remaining 8, 161 cases are of criminal nature.
When considering cases in the High Court by number and duration, the highest number, 15, 173 (33.92%), are pending disposal for the last one year, 6,765 (15.12%) for between 1 to 3 years, 6,532 (14.6%) for between 3 to 5 years, 10,905 (24.38%) for 5 to 10 years, 5,060 (11.31%) for 10 to 20 years, and the least number, 285 (0.64%), for between 20 to 30 years.
Among the total pending cases, 6,633 cases, with 5,709 of civil nature and 924 of criminal nature, have been filed by senior citizens, and 2,770 cases, comprising 2,368 of civil nature and 402 of criminal nature, have been filed by women.
A total of 1,560 cases, with 1,369 of civil nature and 191 of criminal nature, have been disposed of in the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir last month.
Pertinently, Union Minister of State, Law and Justice, AA Rahim, had earlier in 2022 claimed in the Parliament that there are several factors that are responsible for the pendency of the cases in the courts.
Among them are the shortage of vacancies of Judges, frequent adjournments, lack of supporting court staff, infrastructure, complexity of facts involved, nature of evidence, lack of cooperation of stake holders viz. bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants, and proper application of rules and procedures.
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