Pending Litigation 2011 Supreme Court sees 708 rise in arrears while lower courts see decrease of 208

The latest figures released by the Supreme Court reveal some interesting facts with respect to the judicial backlog faced by the courts of the country. Bar & Bench analyses the facts and figures for the year 2011..The latest figures released by the Supreme Court reveal some interesting facts with respect to the judicial backlog faced by the courts of the country. Bar & Bench analyses the facts and figures for the year 2011..Supreme Court.In the Supreme Court, the number of Admission Matters (33,454) has seen an increase of 2.7 per cent over last year’s figures although still remaining below the number of Admission Matters pending in the year 2009. However, the number of Regular Matters has seen an increase of 13.9 per cent over 2010 figures and a 20 per cent rise over 2009 numbers..It needs to be mentioned that, as per the Supreme Court News, if connected matters were removed from the total pending matters numbering 58,519, the resulting pendency would be of 33,892 as on December 31, 2011..Court 200920102011Increase from 2010 to 2011 Supreme Court Admission34,97632,56533,4542.7% Regular20,81521,99725,06513.9% Total 55,791 54,652 58,519 7.08%High Courts4,060,7094,217,9034,276,1231.39% Lower Courts 27,275,95327,953,07027,371,727-2.08%Source: SC Court News.The Supreme Court has also disclosed its disposal rates as below:.Pending cases as of January 1, 2011Number of cases filed in 2011Number of cases disposed of in 2011Pendency at end of 2011 Civil Cases44,19257,68755,25647,623Criminal Cases10,37019,40318,87710,896 Total 54,562 77,090 73,133 58,519Source: SC Court News.High Courts.Pendency in the High Courts in 2011 (Up till September 30,2011) showed a slight increase of 1.39 per cent over 2010 figures. The Karnataka High Court witnessed the greatest drop in pending cases, with a decrease of 20.47%. In second place was Gujarat with a decrease of 14.39% and in third place was Patna High Court with a decrease of 7.51%.The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir witnessed the greatest increase in pending matters (when viewed as a percentage) of 22.95% followed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh which saw an increase of 9.36%. The High Court of Jharkhand was next in line with pending cases increasing by 8.81%.. State/Union TerritorySeptember 30, 2010September 30, 2011% Change in pending cases1.Karnataka209,843166,887-20.47% 2. Gujarat98,12884,011-14.39%3. Bihar128,293118,661-7.51%4. Chhattisgarh56,10252,902-5.70%5. Rajasthan282,826275,798-2.48%6. Himachal Pradesh46,69846,428-0.58%7. Assam (Includes Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram & Arunachal Pradesh)53,40052,4090.02%8. Maharashtra (Includes Goa, Daman & Diu, Dadra, Nagar, Haveli)347,618356,7070.03%9. Kerala (Includes Lakshadweep)120,764128,5840.23%10. Punjab (Includes Haryana and Chandigarh)237,658238,7560.46%11. Delhi60,37561,3801.66%12. Sikkim52611.92%13. Uttar Pradesh973,599993,6852.06%14. West Bengal (Includes A&N Islands)333,763343,3982.89%15. Andhra Pradesh194,961200,6342.91%16. Tamil Nadu (Includes Puducherry)444,979469,3485.48%17. Odhisa275,052290,8455.81%18. Uttarakhand17,91119,3748.17%19. Jharkhand57,21862,2618.8120. Madhya Pradesh213,028232,9679.36%21.Jammu & Kashmir65,90581,02722.95% TOTAL 4,217, 903 4,276,123 1.39%Source: SC Court News.Vacancies in High Courts.With respect to vacancies, Allahabad High Court continued to have the greatest number of vacancies, with 74 seats lying vacant out of a sanction 160. Next was the Punjab & Haryana High Court with 27 seats lying vacant against a sanctioned strength of 75. In third position was the Bombay High Court which had 18 posts lying vacant..In terms of percentages, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir is performing with half its sanctioned strength, slightly above the Allahabad High Court..With respect to appointments, 2012 saw a slight improvement with the number of vacancies plunging from 291 in the year 2011 to 262 in the year 2012 (up till July 10, 2012).State/Union Territory Approved StrengthWorking StrengthVacancies*% of Vacancies1 Allahabad160867446.5%2 Punjab & Haryana68412739.71%3 Maharashtra75571824%4 Rajasthan40241640%5 Andhra Pradesh49331632.65%6 West Bengal58441424.14%7 Gujarat42291330.95%8 Delhi48361225%9 Karnataka50391122%10 Madhya Pradesh4334920.93%11 Jharkhand2012840%12 Orissa2214836.37%13 Jammu & Kashmir147750%14Kerala 3831718.42%15 Tamil Nadu6053711.67%16 Chhattisgarh18120633.33%17 Bihar4337613.95%18Sikkim 0302133.33%19 Uttarakhand0908111.11%20 Gauhati242314.17%21 Himachal Pradesh1111– TOTAL89563326229.27%*Vacancies in High Courts as of July 10, 2012 (Information provided through an RTI Application filed by Kursh Kalra) .Vacancies in High Courts from 2009-2012, Sanctioned Strength remained unchanged at 895.2009201020112012*Vacancies in High Courts265 287 291262Vacancies %29.61% 32.07%32.51%29.27%*Till July 10, 2012.Subordinate Courts.In terms of fighting arrears, the state of Meghalaya is leading the way with an incredible decrease of 74.94% in pending cases. However, in real terms, it is Delhi which comes out at the top with a reduction of 17.25% in the number of pending cases..State/Union TerritorySeptember 30, 2010September 30, 2011% Change1Meghalaya 12,8893,230-74.94%2Chandigarh84,66864,496-23.82% 3Lakshadweep215168-21.86% 4.Delhi 939,850777,794-17.25%5.Uttarakhand 172,374142,611-17.27%6.Tripura 57,46747,887-16.67%7.Maharashtra4,057,9733,501,723-13.71% 8.Sikkim1,3041,129-13.42% 9.Nagaland5,0804,434-12.72% 10.Dadra and Nagar Haveli3,9503,525-10.76% 11.Daman & Diu2,0341,827-10.18% 12.Mizoram4,4154,032-8.67% 13.Tamil Nadu1,255,0111,181,889-5.83% 14.Puducherry27,01626,474-2.01% 15.Andhra Pradesh956,448 939,142-1.81%16.Goa29,72129,335-1.29% 17.Karnataka1,159,4211,149,100-0.89% 18.Chhattisgarh270,186268,496-0.63% 19.Rajasthan 1,509,0661,464,426-2.96%20.Gujarat2,201,2442,195,767-0.25% 21.West Bengal 2,747,1702,744,396-0.10%22.Punjab572,550572,4630.02% 23.Jharkhand284,391297,6460.05% 24.Arunachal Pradesh6,3486,4481.58% 25.Odhisa1,113,8441,136,1452% 26.Assam251,020256,2322.08% 27.Uttar Pradesh 5,631,9935,752,5252.14%28.Haryana 565,591588,3324.02%29.Bihar 1,523,1421,588,2714.28%30.Kerala972,9951,031,0625.97% 31.Himachal Pradesh170,724185,8608.87% 32.Jammu & Kashmir184,656203,36410.13% 33.Madhya Pradesh 1,159,4211,175,73010.23%34.Manipur8,75710,05414.81% TOTAL27,953,07027,371,727-2.08% Source: SC Court News.Vacancies in Lower Courts.Although the number of sanctioned seats has witnessed a steady increase over the last few years, there has not been a corresponding increase in appointments. Of the 18,123 posts sanctioned for the year 2011, 3,836 of them have been lying vacant. This translates into a vacancy rate of 21.17%. In other words, one of every five posts in the subordinate judiciary has not been filled up.. 200920102011 Vacancies/Sanctioned Strength 2,785/16,880 3170/17,151 3,836/18,123 Vacancies % 16.49% 18.48% 21.17%.Governmental Response.A. Financial Assistance .As per Salman Khurshid, Indian Minsiter of Law & Justice, the Central Government has increased its’ contribution towards developing judicial infrastructure by revising the funding pattern from 50:50 to 75:25 (for States other than North Eastern States) while for North-Eastern States it is 90:10. An amount of Rs.1,150.45 crore was released to states/Union Territories during the 11th Five Year Plan under a Centrally sponsored scheme for developing judicial infrastructure. An amount of Rs.2,70.39 crore has been released so far in the first year of Twelfth Five-Year Plan i.e. current financial year..Khurshid further stated that roughly Rs.5,510 crore of Central assistance would be required for infrastructure development of the subordinate judiciary for the years 2011-2016 and that Rs. 595.74 crore has been released to the States during 2011-12. A requirement of Rs. 5,000 crore has been projected for the purpose during Twelfth Five Year Plan period. A budget provision of Rs. 660.00 crore has been allocated for the Scheme in the current financial year (2012-13).B. New Buildings.The Supreme Court shall be getting an additional annexe for housing lawyers and judicial offices. The cost of infrastructure facilities for Supreme Court is being met through non-Plan budgetary provisions under the Ministry of Urban Development. As per the Minister, two projects preliminary estimates of Rs. 84.20 crores and Rs. 884.30 crore have been approved for the Supreme Court as non-Plan projects during the current financial year..The Planning Commission has approved one time Additional Central Assistance (ACA) of Rs. 41.50 crore for construction of building for High Court at Jodhpur during 2010-2011 and ACA of Rs. 231.31 crore for construction of building of Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court during current financial year..C. Establishing new High Courts.In May, 2012 the Lower House of the Parliament amended the North Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971. This move shall lead to the establishment of High Courts in the states of Meghalaya, Tripura and Manipur. Thus far, these states fell under the jurisdiction of the Guwahati High Court..D. Increase in Court Fees.The Delhi government recently amended the Court Fees Act, bringing forth an increase in the court fees payable. One of the purported goals of this amendment was to generate greater revenue which could be used to modernise courts. However, lawyers have protested against this move and the matter is currently before the Delhi High Court..E. Raising Pecuniary Jurisdiction of Subordinate Courts.On Jan 10, 2012 the Indian Express had reported the Maharashtra government’s decision to raise the pecuniary jurisdiction of District Courts following a recommendation made by the state bar council. The state government has now raised the pecuniary jurisdiction of the civil judges (junior division) from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh and for district judges from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh in civil suits involving property. A similar move in Delhi has met with opposition from the city’s lawyers. Meanwhile the Bombay High Court has now raised its pecuniary jurisdiction to a minimum of Rs. 1 crore..F. Other Schemes.Some Courts have taken it upon themselves to reduce the pending cases. The Bombay High Court, for instance, has initiated a novel scheme of identifying pending civil suits which can be summarily disposed off with the consent of the parties involved, thereby reducing arrears.