New Delhi: A senior Supreme Court judge on Sunday
termed as "alarming" the huge pendency of cases in high
courts and subordinate courts and called for evolving measures
to overcome the situation.
Justice Dalveer Bhandari, however, said the situation in
the Supreme Court was not the same and is within manageable
limit.
"The Supreme Court is still manageable but as far as high
courts and subordinates courts are concerned, situation is
very alarming...I think drastic steps needs to be taken,"
he said at `All India Conference of the Central Administrative
Tribunal (CAT)` here.
Justice Bhandari said as on March 31 this year over 2.74
crore cases are pending in the subordinate courts and over
42.92 lakh cases are pending in the high courts and till
October 31, as many as 56,383 cases are pending in the Supreme
Court.
He said administrative tribunals can be a viable
alternative to the high courts.
"The Law Commission has observed that in respect of grave
concern with increasing pendency of litigations before the
high courts, the theory of alternative institutional mechanism
has also been propounded to defend the establishment of
administrative tribunals...These tribunals are expected to
function as viable substitutes for the high courts," he said.
Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Water
Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal, who also attended the function,
too advocated for alternative institutions to help in reducing
the pendency of court cases.
"We cannot burden the Supreme Court and high courts with
so many cases...we have to think seriously about the efficacy
of alternative institutions and this (CAT) is a perfect and
wonderful alternative," he said.
Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and
Pensions and Prime Minister`s office V Narayanasamy, former
CJI JS Verma and CAT Chairman Justice VK Bali also attended
the conference.
PTI
