Verdict awaited: Indian courts have 1.71 lakh pending cases for 30 years

• Over 71,000 cases are pending in high courts for more than 30 years, while lower courts have over 1.01 lakh cases pending.
• Over 5 crore cases are pending in various courts – the Supreme Court, 25 high courts and subordinate courts.
• Karnataka HC has said that human life is short and matrimonial cases should be tried on a war footing.

Over 71,000 cases are pending in various high courts for more than 30 years, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday. The House was also told that over 1.01 lakh cases which are more than 30 years old are pending in lower courts.

In a written reply to a question, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said that as on July 24 this year, 71,204 cases were pending in high courts for more than 30 years. Similarly, 1,01,837 cases were pending for over 30 years in district and subordinate courts.

On July 20, he had told the Upper House of Parliament that cases pending in various courts in the country have crossed the five-crore mark.

Meghwal had said over 5.02 crore cases were pending in various courts -- the Supreme Court, 25 high courts and subordinate courts.

"As per data retrieved from the Integrated Case Management System (ICMIS) by the Supreme Court of India, as on July 1, there are 69,766 cases pending in the Supreme Court.

"Total number of cases pending in the high courts and the district and subordinate courts as on July 14 are 60,62,953 and 4,41,35,357 respectively, as per information made available on National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)," he had said.

The minister told Lok Sabha on Friday that the vacancy of judges is not the sole reason for the increased pendency of cases in courts.

Pendency of cases in courts can be attributed to several factors which include availability of physical infrastructure and supporting court staff, complexity of facts involved, nature of evidence, co-operation of stakeholders, including the Bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants and proper application of rules and procedures.

Life is too short to be little says Karnataka High Court

The High Court of Karnataka has said that "matrimonial cases should be tried and disposed of on a war-footing," considering that human life is short and the parties have to rebuild their lives after the case. The court was hearing a petition by a man who had filed a matrimonial case in 2016 seeking dissolution/ nullity of his marriage.

The petitioner's advocate argued that the right to speedy justice was recognised by the Supreme Court as a Constitutional guarantee under Article 21 and therefore a direction should be issued for the speedy disposal of the case.

Justice Krishna S Dixit in his recent judgment said the court was in agreement with the proposition and speedy disposal of matrimonial cases was necessary "at least as a concession to the shortness of human life."

Quoting historian Thomas Carlyle, the HC said, "Life is too short to be little."

The court observed that "When a matrimonial case involves the prayer for the dissolution/ nullity of marriage, courts should make all efforts to try and dispose of the same within an outer limit of one year, so that in the event of granting such a decree, the parties may restructure their lives. It hardly needs to be stated 'life is lost in living'. Delay in disposal of such cases very badly affects the parties thereto, needs no deliberation."

While directing the family court to dispose a seven-year-old case within three months, the High Court has also directed the Registrar General to circulate the judgment in all concerned circles "other similarly circumstanced litigants may not unnecessarily knock at the doors of this Court seeking a direction for the expeditious disposal of their cases."