On one hand, the Punjab and Haryana High Court is facing a huge shortage of judges, where only 51 judges are working against 85 sanctioned posts. At the same time, this court has been successful in continuously reducing the number of pending cases.
While the total number of pending cases was four lakh 32 thousand 227 in January 2024, it has now come down to four lakh 30 thousand 412. That is, the burden of an average of 365 cases has been reduced every month. The High Court has achieved a significant decline in appeals and civil cases by giving priority to the hearing of old cases.
With the concrete initiative taken by the High Court, the number of cases with heavy records like second appeal has come down from 48 thousand 386 to 47 thousand 633. The number of civil cases has come down from 2 lakh 68 thousand 279 to 2 lakh 62 thousand 54. The percentage of civil and criminal cases pending for more than a year has also come down from 85% to 79.74%.
According to the data of National Judicial Data Grid, cases pending for one to three years have come down from 76,433 (18%) to 69,644 (16%). Cases pending for three to five years have come down from 34,653 (8%) to 31,975 (7%). Cases pending for five to 10 years have come down from 1,29,122 (30%) to 1,21,712 (28%). Cases pending for more than 10 years have come down from 1,26,854 (29%) to 1,19,885 (28%).
As per the orders of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, top priority is being given to disposal of old cases up to the year 2000, cases of senior citizens, women, Divyangjans, children, deprived sections of the society, cases related to corruption, cases sent back by the Supreme Court and cases pending in lower courts.
Under the special listing policy, cases up to 1994 are being included in the urgent motion cause list, while cases from 1995 to 1999 are also being disposed of quickly. So that the speed of disposal of cases pending for years can increase.
To increase the speed of hearing in the court, some benches are starting work from 9 am. Especially those who hear bail petitions. The Chief Justice himself is sitting in the court from 9:30 am and hearing urgent cases. Many benches are hearing cases till late evening.
