Acute shortage of judges leading to backlog of cases: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently flagged concern that an acute shortage of judges, when compared to the population and the volume of litigation in Delhi, has led to several cases remaining unheard..A Bench of Justice Girish Kathpalia said that due to overflowing dockets (lists of pending cases), the Court is unable to resolve disputes within a reasonable timeframe. He added that this is extremely painful for judges as well. "On account of acute shortage of judges as compared to the general population and the litigation quantum, for past long time, the list of regular matters does not reach till end of the day of hearing. Rather, many a time even beyond 05:00 pm when the Courts rise for the day, some of the matters remain unheard, which is extremely painful for the judge," the April 25 order said. .The Court made these observations while hearing a plea filed by a man (applicant) who was convicted by a trial court in a cheating and forgery case. The applicant sought permission to travel abroad to attend a Rotary Club assembly in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Georgia for social and business development purposes.The Court observed that his appeal against his conviction had been pending since 2019, awaiting its turn for a regular hearing.His counsel argued that the man, now 67 years old, had been previously permitted to travel abroad and posed no flight risk.Meanwhile, the counsel representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) opposed the plea, arguing that such leisure trips involved a risk that the convict may abscond and not return to India to face his punishment sentence. .The Court, however, opined that it could not deny the applicant free movement when it was uncertain about when his appeal would be heard next."In such uncertain atmosphere, depriving the applicant/appellant free movement, even if to enjoy leisure trips cannot be justified," the Court said. Justice Kathpalia added that the Court could impose conditions to ensure that the man does not abscond. The Court proceeded to allow the applicant to travel abroad from May 1 to May 11, provided that he furnishes a personal bond of ₹5 lakh along with a surety of the same amount..Advocate Vikas Arora appeared for the applicant/ appellant.Advocate Ripudaman Bhardwaj appeared for the CBI..[Read Order]