Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court Aims To Clear Backlog: Zero Five-Year Cases by September 2024

A notification to this effect issued by Registrar General J&K and Ladakh High Court reads,

“In order to streamline the disposal of the old cases with the objective to reduce the pendency of cases which are more than five years old and to achieve the target of zero five year plus cases, Hon'ble the Chief Justice has been pleased to approve the following Action Plan for the District Judiciary in UTs of Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh for the year 2023-2024 w.e.f 01.10.2023 to 30.09.2024”.

Targets proposed for the Courts of District & Sessions Judges/ Additional District and Sessions Judges:

• Fast-tracking cases: All cases involving under-trial prisoners (UTPs) in custody for over five years, along with criminal cases where charge sheets were filed before March 1st, 2018, will be prioritized for disposal.
• Time-bound disposal of appeals and revisions: Criminal appeals (except PWDV Act), PWDV Act appeals, criminal revision petitions (except Section 125 CrPC), and Section 125 CrPC revision petitions have specific deadlines for disposal, ranging from three months to one year.
• Clearing civil case backlog: All civil original suits pending for more than five years, other civil matters instituted on or before March 1st, 2020, and all execution petitions pending for over three years will be tackled under the plan.
• Focus on appeals: Civil first appeals pending for more than five years and civil miscellaneous appeals pending for over one year will also be prioritized for disposal.

Targets proposed for the Special Courts:

1. The Special Courts constituted under the Prevention of Corruption Act shall decide and dispose of, during the target year 2023-2024, 15 oldest cases in addition to normal standards.

2. The Special Courts constituted under the Prevention of Corruption Act for CBI cases shall decide and dispose of, during the target year 2023-2024, 10 oldest cases in addition to normal standards.

3. The Special Courts constituted under the POCSO Act shall fast track the cases registered under the POCSO Act and shall decide and dispose of all the cases instituted before March 2023 & shall ensure to complete the trial in all other cases instituted thereafter as far as possible within six months from the date of filing of the charge-sheet.

4. The Special Court constituted for trial of offences against women shall decide & dispose of, during the target year 2023-2024:

a. All the cases of under-trial prisoners (UTPs) where the UTP is in custody for more than two years from the date of arrest and

b. All the cases which are pending disposal for more than five years;

5. The Special Court constituted under the NIA shall decide and dispose of, during the target year 2023-2024, twenty oldest cases in addition to the normal standards.

6. The Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal shall decide & dispose of during the target year 2023-2024:

a. All the claim petitions under MV Act involving death which are more than three years old &

b. All the claim petitions under MV Act involving injury which are more than two years old;

7. The Commercial Court (exclusive) shall decide and dispose of, during the target year 2023-2024, all the cases of commercial nature which are pending disposal for more than two years in addition to normal standards;

8. The Court set up for adjudication of matrimonial disputes shall decide and dispose of, during the target year 2023-2024, all the cases which are pending disposal for more than one year in addition to normal standards;

9. The Family Court shall decide and dispose of, during the target year 2023-2024, 150 oldest cases and 50 oldest execution petitions in addition to normal Standards.

Guidelines:

Alongside these targets, a set of guidelines has also been issued to achieve these targets efficiently. These guidelines include,

1. The pendency of the target cases so mentioned above shall be taken as on 30/09/2023 and the cases disposed of since that date be included in the disposal list. But the cases in which the proceedings have been stayed are not to be included in the list of pending target cases. However, if the stay in any such case is vacated during the currency of the Action Plan, it shall be included in the list of target cases.

2. The Judicial Officers shall make every endeavour to dispose of the old cases during the target year 2023-2024. They shall prepare list of all the cases pending over 10 years, pending between 05-10 years, cases falling under the Prevention of Corruption Act, cases falling under the other Acts, under-trial cases, bail matters, cases in which interim orders have been passed & cases pertaining to crime against women, children, differently abled persons, senior citizens & marginalized sections of society; they shall review that list every month and make assessment with regard to the progress of disposal of the said cases & devise further strategies to eliminate the hurdles, if any.

3. The Pr. District & Session Judges shall undertake effective supervision to get the oldest pending cases in their Sessions division disposed of during the target year, they shall in consultation with the Hon'ble Administrative Judge of the District, ensure rationalized and equitable distribution/allocation of the target cases among the Judicial Officers within their respective jurisdictions; they shall take into consideration the nature of the cases & stage of the proceedings in them while ensuring, in consultation with the Hon'ble Administrative Judge, the rationalized distribution/allocation of target cases. Whenever practicable, he shall assign the complicated cases to senior and more experienced Judicial Officers.

4 . If a Judicial Officer proceeds on long leave or resigns or is t ransferred during the target year, and he is not replaced by another Judicial Officer, or in the event of amalgamation or withdrawal of a court, the Pr. District and Session Judge shall transfer the pending target cases of such Court to other competent Courts & equally distribute those cases among them as aforesaid.

5. If an additional Judicial Officer joins during the currency of the Action Plan , the Pr. District & Session Judge shall allocate to him target cases and fix the proportionate target under Action Plan for him in consultation with the Hon'ble Administrative Judge.

6. The Pr. District & Sessions Judges shall ensure uploading of Court-wise list of the target cases along with the stage of proceedings in each case on the website of the District Court within one week of date of receipt of the Action Plan and shall ensure that the list of the target cases is regularly uploaded on the said website on monthly basis.

7. The Judicial Officers shall not routinely proceed in the cases in which the High Court or the Appellate Court has stayed the proceedings &_ shall not give long dates in those cases but they shall check the status of those cases online on every date. They shall themselves record the proceedings in the target cases.

8. The Judicial Officers shall not grant frequent, unnecessary and unreasonable adjournments to the litigating parties or any of them; if adjournment is granted, he may impose costs on the party seeking adjournment. However, the Court shall ensure that the parties are accorded a reasonable opportunity to produce evidence ~md present their cases.

9. The Judicial Officers shall take care that other cases are not neglected while making extra effort towards the disposal of target cases.

10. The Pr. District & Session Judges shall submit the Court-wise figures of disposal of the target cases identified under the Action Plan for 2023-2024 in the following format to the Hon'ble High Court on monthly basis on or before the lOth day of every month for placing the same before the Hon'ble Administrative Judge of the concerned District.

Click Here To Read/Download Action Plan