KOZHIKODE: Judiciary is the last resort of common people, but timely justice is still a distant dream in the state. Official data shows the total number of pending cases in various courts — High Court and subordinate courts — has crossed the 15-lakh mark. Of them, 13.89% are in the High Court.
A whopping 15,13,111 cases are pending in the HC, district courts and other trial courts across the state as on August 2. Of them, 9,51,306 are criminal cases while the rest are related to civil matters.
Many cases have been pending for decades. As many as 39,000 have been on hold for more than 10 years while another 21,51,798 for more than five years, said the Central government data tabled by Union Law Minister Kiran Rijiju during the recently-concluded Rajya Sabha session.
In the HC, 2,10,233 cases are pending, which include 42,368 criminal and 1,67,865 civil cases. The government and the judiciary have been working towards encouraging alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism for early disposal of disputes. As many as 25,965 cases were settled through ADR in the state in the last three years (until May 22, 2022).