J&K has over 2.50 lakh cases pending in Courts

JAMMU, Mar 26: Jammu and Kashmir has over 2.50 lakh cases pending in various courts of the state, including Jammu and Srinagar wings of the High Court.
Replying to a question of Congress legislators Bashir Ahmad Magray and Ravinder Kumar Sharma in the Legislative Council here, Minister of state for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Vikar Rasool today said that while 82,306 cases were pending in both Jammu and Srinagar wings of the state High Court, 1,91,144 cases were pending in the subordinate courts up to December 2012.
The sanctioned strength of judges in the High Court is 14, of which two are vacant, the minister said.
Conceding that the pendency was mostly due to insufficient strength of judges in the state, Rasool said, with the recent elevation of five judges to the High Court, appointment of seven District and Sessions judges to the subordinate judiciary and creation of 37 new courts in the state, the pile-up is expected to reduce considerably.
Selection process of 38 Munsiffs is likely to be completed soon, he said.
22 village courts are under the government’s consideration
And it was also contemplating of increasing the cadre strength by 10 per cent at all levels of the subordinate judiciary, Rasool added. (AGENCIES)