Justice Jammed

Even as the number of judges in the Madras High Court (MHC) is poised for another rise, there has been no let-down in the number of pending cases. Though ranked second with as many as 3,02 lakh pending cases from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, the number pales into insignificance when compared to the 40.54 lakh odd cases pending in all the 24 High Courts in the Country. 

As per the ‘Indian Judiciary Annual Report 2015-2016’ issued by the Supreme Court, the Allahabad High Court tops the list with a total of 9.24 lakh cases, which is three times more when compared to the cases pending at the MHC. Not far behind are the High Courts of Bombay, Punjab & Haryana and Madhya Pradesh with 2.98 lakh, 2.88 lakh and 2.83 lakh pending cases respectively. 

Similarly, the High Courts of AP and Telangana, Karnataka and Rajasthan also have a pendency crossing the two-lakh mark with 2.78 lakh, 2.56 lakh and 2.26 lakh pending cases respectively. Only the North-Eastern regions have a remarkably low pendency, with Sikkim having a mere 129 pending cases while Meghalaya, Tripura and Manipur accounts for 672, 2,987 and 3,161 cases respectively. 

It is said that the number of pending cases is directly proportional to the increasing number of state and central legislations, accumulation of first appeals, vacancies of judges, appeals against orders of quasi-judicial forums going to High Courts, frequent adjournments, indiscriminate use of writ jurisdiction and lack of arrangement to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing. 

However, at MHC, the pending cases have been registering a rise and fall. In 2012 it was 2.46 lakh cases followed by 2.31 lakh cases in 2013 and 1.29 lakh cases in 2014. In 2015, as many as 1.41 lakh cases were disposed with the pendency standing at 2.84 lakh. But then the number of judges was a mere 37, which was half the sanctioned strength of 75 for the principal seat in Chennai and the bench at Madurai. 

Now, with the number of judges currently at 57, the number of pending cases is expected to come down rapidly. In fact, going by the statistics made available by the Supreme Court for July 2015-June 2016 the number of cases instituted during that period worked out to 1.83 lakh cases while during the same period as many as 1.60 lakh cases were disposed. 

Senior Advocate M Radhakrishnan on analysing the report, said “Going by the parity that is being achieved both in the number of cases filed as well as the cases that were disposed, there is scope for the pendency to reduce considerably. Moreover, with more judges being poised to join, the situation remains optimistic.”

Along with the pendency at MHC, the situation at the lower courts in Tamil Nadu also remain a cause of worry. As per the report, as on July 2016 there remains a total of 2.81 crore cases pending in various lower courts across the country of which Tamil Nadu accounts for 11.13 lakh pending cases. While there are 430 vacancies across the High Courts in the country, there are a total of 4,905 vacancies as against the sanctioned strength of 21, 324 posts. In Tamil Nadu, out of the sanctioned strength of 1,058 as many as 91 remain vacant. 

However, another aspect gaining strong credence is the aspect of inexperienced lawyers becoming district munsifs. Their inability to comprehend the civil procedure code in the first place and further with a large number of cases being bestowed on them hamper the disposal. Moreover, a select battery of lawyers garnering majority of the cases result in a lot of adjournments naturally resulting in poor disposal.

LAWYER BOYCOTTS AND LENGTHY VACATIONS 

Incidentally, at one stage MHC was notorious for frequent boycotts by advocates. The boycotts happening for every sundry reason had paralysed the court system taking a toll on disposal. But now, with the Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul effectively salvaging the situation by roping in the Central Industry Security Force (CISF), the situation has considerably improved with public having access to the court system without any hindrance. 

Even lengthy vacations have come to be cited as one of the prime reasons for such piling up of cases. It is said that boycotts coupled with long vacations has brought down the number of working days in the last decade to a minimum of 180 days. A senior lawyer who insisted that excluding declared holidays the High Court and lower courts should work for more than 200 plus days, said “It is also important that advocates diversified their portfolios and worked towards bringing the cases to their logical ends and not merely keep it pending by obtaining adjournments after adjournments.” 

Since Courts and Tribunals adjudicate and resolve the dispute through adversarial method of dispute resolution, which leads to a win-lose situation, a lot of stress is being laid on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) like mediation and adjudication. This leads to a win-win situation for both parties and the process is also expected to reduce the pendency of civil cases gathering dust at the High Court. 

With public becoming more aware of their rights due the to the spread of legal literacy equipped with effective legal aid and advice, the number of litigations is only set to rise. Though stress on speed alone at the cost of substantial justice can cause more harm than the one caused by delay in disposal of cases, it is hoped that an effective balance is stuck based on the underlying truth that Justice delayed is justice denied.

Practically every state has a backlog of cases running into lakhs for the period 2015-2016. In some cases, it is due to lack of sanctioned strength of judges. However, the number of litigations has also been climbing concurrently

The North-Eastern states on the other hand offer a contrast with pending cases a fraction of what it is across the country during the same period 

Tripura: 2,987

Sikkim: 129

While there are 430 vacancies across the High Courts in the country, there are a total of 4,905 vacancies as against the sanctioned strength of 21, 324 posts. In Tamil Nadu, out of the sanctioned strength of 1058 as many as 91 remain vacant