UP tops in litigation burden

Even as Uttar Pradesh accounts for the largest share in the burden of pending cases in the High Courts across the country, it also clocks fastest rate of disposal at its Allahabad High Court.

On an average, about 3200 cases are disposed of per judge per year in Allahabad High Court, against the national average of about 2324, law ministry sources said here today.

By the latest count 10,74,179 cases are pending in Allahabad High Court, accounting for one-fourth of 42,42,450 cases pending in the twenty-one high courts in the country.

In terms of number of pending cases among the high courts, Uttar Pradesh is followed by Tamil Nadu (3,70,911), Maharashtra (3,58,031), Jharkhand (2,78,098), West Bengal (2,65,372) and Punjab and Haryana (2,43,471).

But in the matter of criminal cases pending before the high courts, Jharkhand with 2,31,032 cases in queue remains the state with heaviest criminal case backlog. The state's figure is almost one-fourth of the country's total figure (9,03,853). It is followed by Uttar Pradesh (2,09,407) and the figures hover between five- and four-figures in other courts.

Curiously enough, with exception to Sikkim which has just 11 criminal cases as backlog, the state of Jammu and Kashmir accounts for the lowest number of pending criminal matters with a figure of 2,444.

In the matter of civil disputes, UP again outweighs the rest with a staggering 8,64,772 pending civil cases out of the national aggregate of 33,38,597 cases pending in all the 21 high courts.

At the district and subordinate court level, more than 2.53 crore cases are pending in various courts in 35 states and union territories across the country. Of these 1.83 crore account for criminal cases alone, while over 70.4 lakh are civil in nature.

Overall, Uttar Pradesh leads other states by having 46,28,866 criminal and civil cases in the backlog. It is closely followed by Gujarat (39,35,946), Maharashtra (33,27,881), West Bengal (19,41,227), Bihar (12,77,692), Karnataka (10,86,058), and Rajasthan (10,50,374).

Among the union territories, Delhi tops the list with a total of 9,28,526 criminal and civil cases in its courts. This is followed by Chandigarh (79,994), Andaman & Nicobar Island (47,676) and Pondicherry (20,525).

Pendency was between four- to five-figures in less populous and comparatively smaller states like Goa (34,315), Tripura (32,882), Meghalaya (11,172), Mizoram (7,887), Arunachal Pradesh (7,257), and Manipur (5,116). The lowest pendency of criminal and civil cases was recorded in tiny territories of Sikkim (624) and Lakshadweep (120).