The Orissa High Court has become probably the first court in the country to publish an annual report, making the judiciary more transparent.
The report, for the year 2021 released last week, ascribes the high number of cases pending in Odisha’s district courts to docket explosion, an uneven distribution of cases among district judges, unavailability of witnesses, suspects facing trial going missing, and non-implementation of a 2018 Supreme Court judgment that doesn’t allow a stay to operate for more than six months.
The report also throws light on the details of expenditure the judiciary incurred, initiatives taken at the administrative level to minimise the number of cases pending in district courts and steps taken on how to use technology to improve administration of justice.
As per the report, a total of 1,73,510 cases were pending in the Orissa High Court at the beginning of 2021. While 1,28,943 fresh cases were instituted, 1,05,334 were decided. As a result, the total number of pending case at the end of the year rose to 1,97,119.
The report also points out that the abolition of the Odisha Administrative Tribunal — a quasi-judicial body that heard disputes between government employees and employers—burdened the pendency further with around 40,000 cases being transferred to the HC.
Similarly, in the trial courts, the number of pending cases at the end of 2021 rose from 15,92,250 to 17,89,677.
At the beginning of the year, as many as 12,236 cases going back 25 years were awaiting final disposal in district courts and in the course of the year, 2,907 new cases were added.
However, with concerted efforts, the number of pending cases in this category was brought down to 9,540, the report says.
The report also says that a similar approach helped trial courts dispose of 40-year-old cases. At the beginning of the year, there were 305 such matters pending but now only 164 are pending.
The report highlights that the operation of stay orders by higher courts led to pendency in district courts. It also says that a low judge: population ratio in the state is the main reason why there is large pendency of cases.
The judge-population ratio is the number of judges per million population. This ratio in Odisha is at 20.52, compared to the national average of 21.03.
Against the sanctioned strength of 33 judges on the high court, the present working strength is only 21, the report says.