Srinagar – In an effort to minimise the pendency of cases in the courts, the J&K High Court has formulated an action plan under which all the Principal District and Sessions Judges (PDJs) have been advised to clear the backlog by December 31.
Under the plan, which was formulated by Chief Justice MM Kumar during a full court meeting held in September, targets were fixed for disposing of cases of undertrials, criminal appeals and criminal challans.
Over 2.7 lakh cases were reportedly pending in different courts across the state and more than 80,000 cases were pending in both the wings of the high court in Srinagar and Jammu till May, 2012.
To assess the implementation of the action plan, the Chief Justice held meetings with the district and sessions judges this week through video-conferencing at High Court in Srinagar, which concluded yesterday.
Under the action plan, the PDJs have been advised to take decisions in the criminal appeals and revisions filed till March 31, 2012. This means that there should not be any criminal revision pending for more than six months, a source in the High Court told the Tribune.
Sources said as per the guidelines of the plan adopted through a full court resolution in September, the cases of undertrials wherein the chargesheet stands filed on or before December 31, 2007, are to be decided by the concerned judges by December 31, 2012. This means there should be no case pending before the courts for more than five years.
Likewise, as per the Action Plan, the concerned Principal District Judges have asked to decide or dispose of all criminal revisions filed on or before March 31, 2012 by December 31, 2012.
According to the plan, judges have to decide by or before December 31, 2012, all criminal challans except those involving undertrials, which have been filed on or before December 31, 2002, sources said.
The judges have also been directed to reduce the pendency in criminal miscellaneous appeals, which are more than six months old, by December, said a source.
Likewise, in the anti-corruption and the CBI cases, the judges have been directed to dispose of the cases which were filed by or before December 31, 2007, till December 31, 2012.
Till May, over 2.7 lakh cases were reportedly pending in different courts across the state and more than 80,000 cases were pending in both wings of the high court in Srinagar and Jammu.
