Bar association seeks full-fledged HC for Puducherry

AIBA, state president (Puducherry unit) M Antony Selvaraj, in a statement issued here on Saturday, said excluding the cases arising out of the Union Territory of Puducherry and pending before the Madras High Court, the subordinate courts in Puducherry disposed of 33,899 cases in 2014, 32,479 cases in 2015 and 28,631 cases in 2016. 

But the cases pending and disposed of in the High Court, Puducherry would rank above such small states like Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya. It has cases, which are several times more than those pending before the Sikkim High Court, he said. 

He also noted that even the Uttrakhand High Court has fewer number of cases than those arising from Puducherry, which saw disposal of nearly 14,000 cases in 2016 while Uttrakhand High Court had disposed only 13,386 during the same year. 

Similarly, the three high courts formed in 2013-Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya-accounted for the disposal of 5,149 cases, 1,928 cases and 1,724 cases respectively in 2016. But, Puducherry has accounted for disposal of more than the combined strength of these courts three new high courts besides the one at Sikkim, which saw disposal of a mere 230 cases in 2016, he added. 

Antony Selvaraj also submitted that huge disparity in the number of cases being filed and disposed of in the subordinate courts in Puducherry and the number of cases being filed and disposed in Madras High Court would prove that many litigants are not taking their cases on appeal, due to the distance, energy and cost involved in travelling to Chennai, engaging a lawyer and meeting  legal expenses.