New Delhi: Justice would remain a far cry for many if the judiciary and the government continue to show a laidback attitude, especially when there is a staggering 3.33 crore cases pending in the lower courts.
It is high time the government thought about appointment of retired judges of district courts and High Courts as ad hoc judges to clear the pending cases, said a Supreme Court judge.
As per official data, over 3.33 crore cases have been pending in the lower courts across the country. Out of these, around 1.86 crore criminal cases are more than one-year-old.
In Odisha, the courts have a backlog of over 14.5 lakh cases. The Orissa High Court has as many as 1,28,252 cases pending for more than one year while 8,884 criminal appeals are pending for 10-20 years. Significantly, the HC has been functioning with around 60 per cent strength of judges.
Taking cognisance of the pendency of the cases in the high courts, the Supreme Court said that the backlog of cases poses a challenge to the judiciary, inasmuch as to speedy disposal of appeals of the convicted.
In order to deal with this huge backlog, Supreme Court judge Justice DY Chandrachud emphasised on adopting out-of-the-box thinking. During an event earlier, Justice Chandrachud had said that retired district judges could be appointed as ad hoc judges in the high courts to clear the pending cases.
It’s pertinent to mention here that the Constitution does provide for appointment of ad hoc judges to mitigate the problem of pending cases.
The judiciary can invoke Article 224 of the Constitution which allows appointment of retired judicial officers as additional judges in the courts.
Article 224-A says, “…the Chief Justice of a High Court for any State may at any time, with the previous consent of the President, request any person who has held the office of a Judge of that Court or of any other High Court to sit and act as a Judge of the High Court for that State.”
Article 127 of the Constitution has similar provision for appointment of ad hoc judges in the Supreme Court too.
Causes of pendency
While poor infrastructure and staff crunch are believed to be the reasons behind the backlog of cases across the country, frequent strikes by lawyers in some parts of Odisha overburdened the judiciary in the state.
Moreover, many litigants file anticipatory bail applications in the High Court directly under Section 438 of CrPC, bypassing the district courts. This has been resulting in pendency of bail pleas in the HC.
The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has handicapped the judiciary across the country. The courts switched to virtual mode amidst the virus spread in order to make justice accessible to citizens. But due to technical snags, the move does not make a big difference. The number of daily cases taken up for hearing has taken a nosedive in virtual mode too. Other than appointment of ad hoc judges, the judiciary can also consider setting up of holiday benches while the lawyers can refrain from taking frequent adjournments to mitigate pendency issue.
Kuldeep Singh, OP