NEW DELHI: To bring down the pendency of nearly 3.2 crore cases in the country, the Ministry of Law and Justice has proposed to establish additional courts on a temporary basis with focus on specific districts in states where the pendency of cases is high and the disposal of cases is low.
The ministry has mooted the idea of temporary additional courts in the specific districts in states where the disposal rate per judge is very less.
The temporary courts will be manned by retired judges, contractual staff and rented premises for court buildings to begin with. Government has proposed to appoint judges on a contract for two years, for which a special recruitment drive will be undertaken along with the selection of teams of public prosecutors, government pleaders and senior advocates.
The government has also sanctioned a small flexi grant for operational costs of setting up these temporary courts to undertake a pendency reduction drive so as to bring the pendency to a manageable level based on disposal rate at par with the national average. The main focus of this pendency drive will be on those cases which constitute majority of pendency and can be easily disposed off, like cases related to motor vehicle challans, insurance claims and cheque bounce matters.
“According to the proposal, nearly 400 such courts will start functioning,” a law ministry official said. As these courts will be temporary, the ministry has proposed to make a provision for payment of rent for the buildings.
The ministry has proposed to provide a flexi grant of Rs 5 lakh per annum per court for meeting expenditure on various operational necessities like computer, printer, photocopier, fax machine, fan, cooler, air conditioner, electrical and sanitary fittings, which are a pre-required infrastructure for smooth running of courts. “We have sanctioned an amount of Rs 93.25 crore for the purpose for a period of five years,” the official added.
According to the ministry, they have zeroed in on six states where disposal per judge per year is less than 500 cases and eight states where disposal rate is more than 1,000 cases. The addition of courts will be an incremental exercise to be completed over a period of five years.