No pending case in SC older than 50 years: Rijiju
Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju has said that no pending cases, civil or criminal, in the Supreme Court are more than 50 years old, reported Hindustan Times. In a written reply, Rijiju informed the Parliament that the high courts have 1,514 civil and criminal cases pending that are older than 50 years. The question was reportedly raised by Congress MP Rajmani Patel.
Calcutta High Court has maximum pending cases
According to Rijiju, the Calcutta High Court has the highest number of pending cases, with 1,192 civil cases pending for over 50 years. On the other hand, the Orissa High Court has only one civil case older than 50 years— the least of all high courts. Rijiju also said that local courts had around 1,390 cases pending for over half a century.
Centre has no role in the matter: Rijiju
"The disposal of pending cases in courts lies within the domain of the judiciary and the Centre has no role in the matter," Rijiju said in his statement. Notably, a 2009 law commission report said that with the present strength of judges, it will take 464 years to clear the backlog. In 2022, the strength of judges in India was 14.4 per million population.
