Official documents in possession of reveal that in the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, there are seven posts of judges vacant at present. In the lower courts, there are 27 vacant posts. The total number of vacant posts of judges in the High Court as well as in the subordinate courts has swelled to 34.
Though the government claims to be taking all efforts in bringing down the number of pendency of cases in different courts of the state, the paucity of judges is acting as a major spoilsport in the entire process.
Legal experts are of the opinion that in the state like Jammu and Kashmir, judiciary is witnessing tremendous burden and that the government should have prioritised the efforts of putting lid over the crises.
The Law department in the state has admitted the pendency of cases in different courts of.
However, it has stated that several initiatives are in the offing to bring down the number of the cases that are in legal limbo.
Sources within the Law department divulge that the department earlier proposed to take some speedy measures to end crises.
However, the government is yet to approve the proposal. It included up gradation of the judicial infrastructure. Computerisation of the courts was deemed to be a step forward in this regard. The High Court, pertinently, has been and is constantly issuing instructions for speedy disposal of cases that are pending in the state.
Etreported last year that there were 58552 cases pending in the state’s highest court. Of them 53534 were civil while 5018 were of criminal nature.
The data revealed that 1202 cases-1076 (civil) and 126 (criminal) were instituted in June. 695 civil and 50 criminal cases were disposed during the month.
Of the overall cases, 22679(civil) and 859 (criminal) were pending for more than five years.
Report further revealed that there were 141910 cases-(48080 civil) and 93830 (criminal)-pending in the subordinate courts. Of them, 3512 (civil) and 4911 (criminal) cases are pending for more than half a decade.
Regarding the month of June, it stated that 2253 civil and 14770 criminal cases were instituted and of the 17023 cases in total, 12492 cases disposed. Of them, 1966 were civil while 10526 were criminal cases.
As per the data, the total number of under trail cases in different courts in Jammu and Kashmir was 97155. 4478 cases were withdrawn, but still 78182 cases were pending disposal.
