PATNA: The Patna High Court on Friday directed the Bihar government to conduct a survey on the number of cases pending in district courts, estimated to be around 67,000, for over two decades.
After hearing arguments on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Kaushik Ranjan, a division bench headed by Chief Justice KV Chandran gave two weeks to the state government to conduct a survey on the matter.
In an earlier hearing, the High Court directed the secretary of Bihar State Legal Services Authority (BALSA) to cross-check the data of the National Judicial Grid and National Crime Records Bureau with the original records, according to petitioner’s counsel Shama Sinha. Sinha said that there were about 67,000 cases in which the parties were not showing any interest.
The High Court had earlier asked the Bihar State Legal Services Authority (BALSA) and District Legal Services Authority to take action after identifying the pending cases after crosschecking the available data of the Judicial Grid and National Crime Records Bureau with original records.
As many as 7.80 lakh lakh criminal cases are pending due to the lack of lawyers’ cooperation. The court was also told that efforts were being made by the Bihar Federation of Women Lawyers to provide training to lawyers to provide legal aid to such under-trial prisoners. The process of providing necessary information and training for legal aid is likely to be started soon.
In the earlier hearing, the court directed the Bihar State Legal Services Authority to investigate the data and take action. The court said that providing assistance to lawyers in these cases should be taken seriously. Advocate Shama Sinha had told the court that many cases were very old, most of which have lost their relevance.
In the earlier hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer Shama Sinha told the court that the data were obtained from National Judicial Grid and the National Crime Records Bureau. These data were presented before the court. The PIL has been filed to implement the law of plea bargaining under the Criminal Procedure Act. The report said a criminal case dating back to 1965 is pending in a court in Bihar, which is clearly visible in the National Judicial Data Grid. The next hearing on this matter will be held after two weeks.
Many cases old, have no relevance
In the earlier hearing, the court directed the Bihar State Legal Services Authority to investigate the available data and take action. Advocate Shama Sinha had told the court that many cases were very old, most of which have lost their relevance.