CUTTACK: As many as 1,44,418 cases are pending in the Orissa High Court of which 65,658 cases are over five years old, as per the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) on June 5.
Of the total pending cases, while 1,06,864 are civil cases, 37,554 are criminal cases. While 32,030 cases are over 20 years old, 5,543 cases are more than 30 years old, the NJDG revealed.
However, the records available in the Orissa High Court website indicate that 42,987 cases were disposed of during the first five months of this year. Around 37,770 cases were instituted during this period.
With a case clearance rate (CCR) of 113.81 per cent, the number of cases went down from 1,47,028 on January 1 to 1,41,596 by May 31.
Of the 42,987 cases disposed of during this period, 26,305 were civil cases and 16,682 criminal. During these five months, 22,404 civil cases and 15,366 criminal cases were instituted.
While the CCR was 163.55 per cent in January, it went down to 136.63 per cent in February and further dropped to 99.62 per cent in March and 95.38 per cent in April. The CCR somewhat went up to 96.56 per cent in May.
The high court continued to function both through virtual mode and with physical presence of lawyers and during these five months, around 1,165 judgements (excluding the cases disposed of by orders) were delivered.
The records in the high court website further revealed that 570 judicial working hours were lost on account of reference held by the court due to demise of 63 advocates/judges and another 507 judicial working hours were lost over judges being on leave/official tours.
However, there was no abstention from work by the Bar during these five months. The working strength of judges went down from 21 in January to 20 against a sanctioned strength of 33 judges.