Over 71,000 cases pending in high courts for more than 30 years: Centre

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Over 71,000 cases are pending in various high courts for more than 30 years, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

The House was also told that over 1.01 lakh cases which are more than 30 years old are pending in lower courts.

In a written reply to a question, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said that as on July 24 this year, 71,204 cases were pending in high courts for more than 30 years. Similarly, 1,01,837 cases were pending for over 30 years in district and subordinate courts.

On July 20, he had told the Upper House of Parliament that cases pending in various courts in the country have crossed the five-crore mark.

Meghwal had said over 5.02 crore cases were pending in various courts -- the Supreme Court, 25 high courts and subordinate courts.

"As per data retrieved from the Integrated Case Management System (ICMIS) by the Supreme Court of India, as on July 1, there are 69,766 cases pending in the Supreme Court.

"Total number of cases pending in the high courts and the district and subordinate courts as on July 14 are 60,62,953 and 4,41,35,357 respectively, as per information made available on National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)," he had said.

The minister told Lok Sabha on Friday that the vacancy of judges is not the sole reason for the increased pendency of cases in courts.

Pendency of cases in courts can be attributed to several factors which include availability of physical infrastructure and supporting court staff, complexity of facts involved, nature of evidence, co-operation of stakeholders, including the Bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants and proper application of rules and procedures.