Over 1 lakh criminal cases including those of terrorism, rapes pending in J&K courts

Source: dailyexcelsior.com

JAMMU, June 28: Over one lakh criminal cases including those relating to terrorism, juvenile terrorism and rapes are pending in the High Court and Subordinate Courts of Jammu and Kashmir and shortage of Judges particularly at the top level in the judiciary is creating hurdles in ensuring speedy disposal of the same.
This was revealed by the Union Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad in the Rajya Sabha while responding to a question pertaining to pendency of cases in Jammu and Kashmir courts.

Quoting information available on National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), the Union Law Minister said that 7,253 criminal cases including those relating to terrorism, juvenile terrorism and rapes are pending in both the wings of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir. Similarly, 97,049 criminal cases including cases of terrorism, juvenile terrorism and rapes are pending in the District and Subordinate Courts in the State.

When asked about any proposal to set up Special Courts on the lines of CBI Special Court in Jammu and Kashmir to expedite disposal of such cases, the Union Minister said, “setting up of Subordinate Courts including Special Courts falls within the domain of the State Government, which can set up such courts as per its need and resources in consultation with the J&K High Court”.

Admitting that shortage of Judges in the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir was creating hurdles in ensuring speedy disposal of all the pending cases, the Union Minister said, “there are other reasons also behind delay in taking cases to the logical conclusion and these are complexity of facts involved, nature of evidence, cooperation of stake holders like Bar, investigating agencies, witnesses and litigants and proper application of rules and procedure”.
He, however, claimed that Union Government was fully committed to speedy disposal of cases and has taken several initiatives to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms established by the Government has adopted coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration through various strategic initiatives including improving infrastructure for courts, leveraging Information and Communication Technology for better justice deliver”, he said, adding “even steps have been taken to fill vacant posts of the Judges on fast track basis”.

The statement of the Union Law and Justice Minister has given indications that Jammu and Kashmir High Court will get new Judges in the near future. Several names have already been forwarded to the Supreme Court Collegium for appointment as Judges of J&K High Court but the files have not been cleared from all the quarters till date because of one or the other reason.

State High Court has sanctioned strength of 17 Judges including 13 Permanent Judges and 4 Additional Judges. However, there are presently only 9 Judges including Chief Justice Gita Mittal. The sitting Judges of the High Court are Justice Rajesh Bindal, Justice Ali Mohd Magrey, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Justice Tashi Rabstan, Justice Sanjeev Kumar, Justice Sanjay Kumar Gupta, Justice Sindhu Sharma and Justice Rashid Ali Dar.

It is pertinent to mention here that Jammu and Kashmir received only Rs 30 crore during a period of 11 years from 2000-01 to 2010-11 for setting up of Fast Track Courts, which is considered as grossly inadequate.

“The 14th Finance Commission has already endorsed the proposal to strengthen the judicial system in the States which includes establishment of Fast Track Courts for cases of heinous crimes and 21 such courts will be set up in Jammu and Kashmir for which funds to the tune of Rs 48.35 crore have been proposed”, the Union Minister said.