Concerned at rising pendency of old cases, CJI writes to CJ’s of High Courts asking them to ensure disposal of cases pending for over 5 years, without delay

Concerned at rising pendency of cases older than five years in High Courts, the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, Justice Mr. H.L. Dattu has written to Chief Justices of all HCs asking them to ensure that such cases are not pending in any court, including the subordinate judiciary under them. 

(Chief Justice of India, H.L. Dattu. Photo courtesy: PTI)

The Times of India, has reported that the Chief Justice of India had written to the Chief Justices of High Courts last month as pendency of old cases had substantially gone up in many of these Courts. 

Pendency of over five-year-old cases has significantly increased in high courts, with 30-40% of such cases in many of them. In the Allahabad high court, country's largest High Court, this pendency is as high as 60%. Interestingly, pendency of such cases in subordinate courts has come down to 4%-6%. 

With subordinate Courts bringing down the pendency of older cases, the focus of the Apex Court is now on the High Courts to clear all cases pending on file for than five years, many of which are cases of heinous crimes against women and children.

Centre seeks Apex Court's permission to resume process of selection for the post of CVC; Bench posts matter for hearing on December 11

The Centre on Wednesday sought the Supreme Court's permission to resume the process for selection of the chief vigilance commissioner and a vigilance commissioner, two posts which have been lying vacant for months because of a petition in court questioning the NDA government's selection criteria. 

 

(Supreme Court of India)

 

Attorney General Mr. Mukul Rohatgi mentioned the matter before a Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu, which then posted it for hearing on December 11.

The appointment of the CVC was lying in limbo since the time the Supreme Court had in August admitted on its file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) alleging that the Union Government was adopting a non-transparent, restrictive and non-uniform approach in selecting the CVC.

The Court had also criticized the government for allowing the short-listing to be done by senior bureaucrats in various ministries, which implied that there was no uniformity in the short-listing criteria.

The Centre had said it was in the process of short-listing 20 candidates from 120 names received by various ministries and that the job was being done by the cabinet secretary and 36 secretaries of other departments.

The AG had requested that the process of short-listing be allowed to go on but informed the Court that the government would not select the CVC till the Supreme Court finally decided the petition on the process of the CVC selection.

Chief Justice of India sets up special Bench of 2 judges to hear cases related to social issues

The Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, Mr. H.L. Dattu has constituted a special bench of two judges to hear cases related to social issues.  

 

(File Picture : Hon'ble CJI, H.L. Dattu)

Chief Justice H.L. Dattu said that starting next week, the "Social Justice Bench" will sit every Friday afternoon to hear Public Interest Litigations (PILs) and other petitions on issues ranging from the availability of night shelters for the homeless to whether children in government schools are being provided free mid-day meals and the efficacy of the Public Distribution Scheme which is meant to provide poor families access to subsidized grain.  

He said the Supreme Court must play "a proactive role to meet the goals of the constitution."

Starting next Friday, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice UU Lalit will be hearing the petitions related to social issues. 

The notification related to the constitution of the Special Bench can be read in full here