At 4.27 lakh,Pune second in pending court cases

Pune lawyers have suggested various measures to bring down pendency. Some of the measures are implementation of morning-evening courts,alternative disposal systems and increasing the number of courtrooms.

According to the HC report,till December 2010,4,27,961 cases were pending,of which 3.67 lakh are criminal cases and 60,121 are civil suits. As compared to 2009,the pendency of both criminal and civil cases has reduced from 3.87 lakh and 82,117 respectively.

A large number of civil court matters are pertaining to cheque bounce cases and those that fall under Negotiable Instruments Act,1881,for which there is an attempt to dispose them of through alternative dispute redressal methods,a court officer said.

“There are about 100 judges in the Pune district court,out of which around 10 posts are vacant. There is need not only to fill up these posts,but also to increase the number of courtrooms,” said advocate Milind Pawar,president,Pune Bar Association.

At present,there are about a dozen morning and evening courts on Pune district court Shivajinagar premises. “However,litigants’ response to these courts is minimal,thus hampering their effectiveness,” Pawar added.

R H Mohammad,in-charge,Pune District Legal Services Authority,said,“The justice-on-wheels scheme that included a mobile court was on in the state for six months. Moreover,PDLSA had organised various Lok Adalats in the district. These could be few reasons for reduction of pendency in Pune district.”

A total of 27,68,971 cases are pending in the state collective from all the 29 subordinate courts.

Pune is followed by Nagpur and Thane district courts that have 2,85,706 and 2,59,547 pending cases respectively. The report cited that Solapur had 1,43,199 cases pending followed by Nashik with 1,41,207 cases,Ahmednagar with 1,39,864 and Akola with 1,19,805 cases. Chandrapur,Aurangabad and Jalgaon districts has over 80,000 cases pending. Amravati,Beed,Buldhana,Kolhapur and Wardha have over 60,000 cases pending.