New Delhi : Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, who sits beyond closing time of 4 pm up to an hour, has spurred the Supreme Court to deliver 200 judgments in two months since he assumed the charge and reduced the pendency of cases by 2174.
The pendency of cases in the Supreme Court on the day the CJI took over was 57,774. New cases filed since then totalled 7021 as against the disposal of 9195 cases that dipped the pending cases by 2174, a statement by the Supreme Court said.
The climbdown is more significant since the Court did not function for 27 days during the last two months on account of Dussehra and Diwali holidays and weekends. This period also witnessed the Court No 1 chaired by CJI Misra handling more than 100 cases a day on several occasions that force it to go beyond the usual rising for the day at 4 pm.
The CJI encouraging all judges to reduce the pendency of the cases with the existing strength is, however, not reflected in the lower courts where the pile-up of the cases has crossed 2.80 crore.
No direction has, however, come from the CJI to handle this alarming scenario in the district and lower courts because of the shortage of some 5,000 judges.
Nothing has happened on the ground despite two Supreme Court reports in 2015 and 2016 recommending appointment of 15,000 more judges in the subordinate courts in three years to overcome the crisis.
