5 crore cases pending, will take 323 years to clear: Ex-SC judge Lavu Nageswara Rao

HYDERABAD: It would take 323 years to adjudicate and clear all the pending five crore cases in courts all over the country and hence it is in the interest of the system of courts that the current judges must refer the maximum number of cases to mediation first, said former judge of Supreme Court, Justice Lavu Nageswara Rao.
He was addressing judges of the Telangana high court after inaugurating a three-day orientation class to sensitise judges about the gravity of the situation and also the compelling need to shift massively towards mediation to settle issues on a large scale.
“You attend to the issues that require real adjudication and refer the rest of them to mediation,” Justice Rao said.
Admitting that he too was not aware of the importance of mediation for a long time, he said that his stint with the national legal services authority changed his outlook in this regard.
“Let us not nurture any illusions that we can work overtime and reduce the ten lakh cases pendency in all the courts in Telangana. The only solution is to apply alternate dispute resolution (ADR) methods like mediation in a massive way,” he said.
Citing the experiences of Delhi and Karnataka high courts that have dedicated mediation centers within their court complexes, Justice Rao said that the judges gained some awareness about the need for mediation. “If people lose faith in our judicial system of resolution, then even lawyers would be losers and hence everyone should promote mediation,” he said.
He thanked Telangana high court Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and senior judge Justice P Naveen Rao for taking the initiative for sensitising the judges towards this direction. Singapore International Mediation Centre chairman George Lim addressed the judges through a video-conference.