The Gheekanta Metropolitan Court cleared 50 cases pending for more than three decades. The Gujarat High Court has instructed to clear the long pending cases at the earliest.
There are 24,121 cases pending in the Metropolitan Magistrate Court for a very long period of time, ranging from 10 years to 30 years. There are more than 986 cases pending for 30 years, 5,549 cases for 20 years, and 17,636 cases for 10 years in the Gheekanta Court in Ahmedabad.
The pending backlog of cases is a huge problem that the Indian judiciary is dealing with. Around 2.8 crore cases are pending in district courts across the country. In an alarming situation, the judiciary is short of nearly 5,000 judicial officers.
The crisis is known to everyone concerned, including the Apex court. The judiciary is taking every step to reduce the burden. Two reports issued by the Supreme Court—”Indian Judiciary Annual Report 2015–2016’ and ‘Subordinate Courts of India: A Report on Access to Justice 2016″—suggested increasing the judicial manpower at least seven times by appointing about 15,000 more judges in the coming few years.
There have also been regular calls to do away with the colonial system of extended summer vacations in the judiciary. The Gujarat High Court has taken an initiative in this regard.
