The Delhi judiciary, now burdened with nearly four lakh cases, can take care of the heavy pendency within two years if it is allowed to operate on full strength, an affidavit filed by the central government before the Supreme Court has said.
The average disposal of cases from 1995 to 1998 shows that the district courts in Delhi are able to handle the current institution of cases with the existing strength, despite almost a third of sanctioned strength of 385 judges and magistrates remaining vacant, the affidavit filed in response to a Supreme Court directive said.
The court had directed government to submit a detailed report about the problems being faced by the Delhi subordinate judiciary in clearing the backlog of cases while hearing a petition filed by the Delhi Bar Association (DBA) challenging division of the district court into nine units.
If the Delhi judicial services operate on the full strength, they will be able to take care of the backlog of pendency in about two years, the affidavit said that on the basis of average disposal of 1963 cases per judge/magistrate.
The affidavit said that according to the Delhi High Court, the ideal strength of the Delhi Higher Judicial Services (DHJS) should be 252 (85 more posts over the existing strength of 167) and the Delhi Judicial Services (DJS) should be 566 (348 more posts over the existing strength of 167). Bureau Report