*All cases pending for 5 yr & above being decided this yr
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 21: Keeping in view the encouraging results of the first Action Plan, Chief Justice of State High Court, Justice M M Kumar, has set new targets for each and every court across Jammu and Kashmir in order to ensure disposal of all those cases which have been pending for the last five year and above by the end of the current financial year.
Authoritative sources told EXCELSIOR that enthused over the remarkable achievement vis-à-vis disposal of pending cases during the first Action Plan period (from September 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012), the High Court on the directions of Chief Justice M M Kumar has circulated 2nd Action Plan to each and every court across the State for the current financial year.
“In the 2nd Action Plan the targets have been fixed for disposal of all those civil and criminal cases which have been pending for the last five years and above”, they said. During the first Action Plan the figures of pending cases were consolidated at the level of Principal District and Sessions Judge of each district but this year the figures have been called for and collected directly from each and every court in the State.
“This has been done to make it possible for the Chief Justice and the concerned Administrative Judges to keep a close eye on the disposal rate of every court”, sources said, adding “in order to facilitate the Presiding Officers of these courts to achieve the set goal, the Chief Justice in coordination with the Administrative Judges has held video conferencing with the Principal District and Sessions Judges, Additional District and Sessions Judges and Sub-Judges/Chief Judicial Magistrates of Anantnag, Bandipora, Baramulla, Budgam, Jammu, Kupawara, Leh, Poonch, Pulwama, Rajouri and Ramban districts.
Apart from holding video conferencing, the Judges of the High Court, who also happen to be Administrative Judges, are likely to make extensive touring and inspections of the courts falling in their respective administrative districts to monitor the disposal of cases, they said, adding “the High Court is expecting that this initiative would yield the desired results”.
“The objective behind the 2nd Action Plan is that there should be no five year and above old case pending before any court in the State. If achieved, this would give enough time to the Presiding Officers to attend the fresh cases”, they said, adding “in this context, specific directions and instructions are being issued to the Presiding Officers regarding time management and management of cases flow.
As per the High Court data, as on September 1, 2012 there were 36,305 five years and above old cases, both criminal and civil, pending in different courts. The pendency in the courts in Kashmir province was much higher than that of the Jammu province as only 12,687 such cases were pending in Jammu province as against 23,619 such cases in Kashmir province.
The results of the first Action Plan were encouraging as a total of 13,143 cases were disposed of/ decided by December 31, 2012. Such disposal in the Kashmir province was markedly high – 9,087 cases as against 4,056 in Jammu province. The overall pendency of such cases was brought down from 36,306 cases to 23,163.
It is pertinent to mention here that Chief Justice has been putting in untiring efforts to be in constant touch with the Principal District and Sessions Judges of each district in coordination with concerned Administrative Judges through video conferencing and periodically reviewing the disposal scenario besides imparting necessary instructions to them on the methods and techniques required to be adopted to achieve the set objective.
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