CJs, CMs to deliberate on pendency of cases at conference

Faster disposal of pending cases, better utilisation of funds and creation of commercial courts will come up for detailed deliberations at the two-day conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices being held here later this week.
With nearly 3 crore cases pending in various court across the country, Chief Justices of the 24 high courts along with judges of the Supreme Court will discuss means to bring down the pendency, at the conference beginning Saturday.
Better management of court proceedings by evolving a 'case management system' is one of the means recognised by the judiciary to reduce the pendency.
Despite their best efforts, judges in the lower judiciary and higher courts have not been able to bring down the pendency though over 2 crore cases were disposed of in 2014.

The subordinate courts settled 1,9019,658 cases in 2014, but their backlog still comprises 2.64 crore cases.
Similarly, the 24 high courts disposed of 17,34,542 cases in 2014. The pendency in the high courts was estimated at 41.53 lakh at the end of December 2014.

The Supreme Court disposed of 44,090 cases till December 1, 2015, while the pendency there has been estimated at 58,906 till the beginning of December 2015.
The government believes some of the main factors responsible for pendency of cases in courts are increasing number of state and central legislations, accumulation of first appeals and continuation of ordinary civil jurisdiction in some of the high courts.

The other factors include vacancies of judges, appeals against orders of quasi-judicial forums going to high courts, frequent adjournments and lack of adequate arrangement to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing.