Each Pending Case Is A Debt On Judiciary Which Needs To Be Discharged: Madhya Pradesh High Court CJ Ravi Malimath

“Older cases were being shelved while other cases were being heard and disposed off. To solve this issue and keeping in mind the huge pendency of cases in the district judiciary, a special programme ’25 Debt’ was envisaged”, he stated.

As to the phraseology, ’25 Debt’, Chief Justice Malimath said that the term was employed to refer to the fact that each and every case is a debt on the judiciary which needs to be discharged.

“Directions were given to every judge of the district judiciary to dispose of 25 oldest cases in each court on a regular basis”, he said.

He disclosed that the oldest case which had to be disposed of dated back to the year 1969. Three cases which were 50 years old and of the year 1976, 7 cases which remained pending for 41-45 years, were all disposed of. Importantly, he pointed out that 1,86,578 cases which had been pending for more than 5 years were disposed, making it the highest ever disposal of five year old cases. Chief Justice Malimath stated that as on December 31, 2022, a total of 97,153 cases had been disposed of under the said scheme.

“Even though every case requires absolute attention, it does not mean that attention and care should be delayed to such an extent that cases lie undisposed for more than 30 years. This needs to be solved and this can only be done with the active cooperation of the members of the Bar as well as the judges. Pursuant to the ’25 Debt’ scheme, the district judiciary and advocates of the district Bar have come forth to narrate very heart warming stories by the litigants upon disposal of their cases which had not seen a hearing in years”, he quipped.

In the District Judiciary, Chief Justice Malimath noted that 13,03,962 had been disposed of in 2022, making it the second highest disposal in the past decade, while in the High Court, 1,21,041 cases had been disposed of.

Chief Justice Malimath further stated that novel ways were also attempted to be found in order to increase the efficiency of the justice delivery system over the course of the past year.

“We have increased the working hours, implemented a new listing and mentioning policy, introduced the ’25 Debt’ scheme, created new physical and technical infrastructure, strengthened the mediation and legal service authorities, conducted training programs for advocates, filled long-pending vacant posts in the judiciary, ensured regular promotions, adequate pay and filled long-pending vacant posts, for ancillary staff and other employees. A couple of other issues are also in the process of being resolved”, he said.