140 cases pending in lower courts for more than 60 years

NEW DELHI: Rahul Pathak of Buxar filed a case on May 5, 1951, for final decree or judgment. According to records with the National Judicial Data Grid, the case is still at the argument stage in the Dumraon civil court, and the last hearing was on November 18, 2018. The court is yet to update the next date of hearing.
The story, though unusual, is not unique.Similar cases, running into thousands, are pending for more than 40-50 years or so in remote corners of the country. Official statistics show that there are about 140 cases pending in lower courts for more than 60 years, many since 1951. Cases pending for more than 30 years are as high as 66,000 in district and subordinate courts as on December 28, 2018. And those pending for more than five years add up to 60 lakh.
A recent assessment by the government noted that at the current rate of disposal, it will take 324 years for pending cases in subordinate courts to be disposed. As per records, the pendency has increased to an all-time high of 2.9 crore cases, 71% of which are criminal cases where an accused may have been arrested and could be languishing in prison as an undertrial. Last month, subordinate courts disposed of 8 lakh cases against 10.2 lakh new ones instituted, generating a backlog of more than 2.2 lakh cases every month, on an average, besides the current pendency.

A TOI analysis, on year-wise pendency since 1951, shows there are about 1,800 cases still in hearing or argument stages for the last 48-58 years; around 13,000 pending for over 40 years and around 51,000 for up to 37 years.
Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, accounts for the highest 26,000 cases pending for over 30 years, or nearly 40% of all such cases, followed by Maharashtra where more than 13,000 cases are pending for such a period. About 96% of all such pendency are in six states of UP, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat and Odisha. Overall, these states together have more than 1.8 crore cases pending in their subordinate courts, which is over 61% of 2.93 crore pendency in all lower courts in India.
Many of these cases are on perpetual stay while others are simply being given a new date of hearing but never taken up for final disposal — reasons are not recorded. For instance, a case filed on July 2, 1953 by one Bhagwan against Dulari in Varanasi is on perpetual stay. The case history shows that it reached first hearing date on October 11, 2015, and the next date of hearing has been fixed on January 15, 2019.
A case, ‘UP state vs Ayoudhyas’, filed on March 18, 1966, reached appearance stage before civil judge Duddhi in Sonbhadra district in September 2016 and has since been given next date of hearing on February 13, 2019.