Amidst Haryana's struggle with over 14 lakh pending cases, 101 judges to pass out of judicial academy

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, February 14

No less than 101 judicial officers in Haryana will be transitioning from study benches in the Chandigarh Judicial Academy to the judicial Benches across the State after the completion of their one-year induction training programme.

The event marking the triumphant finale of the induction training programme and the beginning of their journey as judicial officers holding the courts is scheduled to be held on February 17 in the academy’s auditorium. Among the luminaries present at the occasion will be legal virtuoso, Justice Surya Kant, a Judge of the Supreme Court of India.

Chief Guest at the occasion, Justice Surya Kant will be joined by the Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court-cum-Patron-in-Chief of Chandigarh Judicial Academy, Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia. Justice Sudhir Singh, a Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court-cum-President, Board of Governors, Chandigarh Judicial Academy, will also be there along with other dignitaries.

Their induction comes at a time when the State of Haryana is grappling with 14,08,928 pending cases, with the oldest matter dating back to 1979. National Judicial Data Grid — the monitoring tool to identify, manage and reduce pendency — indicates that the pending cases in the State include 9,50,225 criminal matters involving life and liberty.

The numerical representation is far from trivial, particularly when considering the human aspect of the matter. The protracted legal battles, enduring from one generation to the next, exact a toll on the individuals and families involved. The prolonged nature of these cases imposes a substantial financial and emotional burden on the parties.

Moreover, the protracted resolution of court cases can lead to severe consequences, especially for those seeking compensation, redress, or resolution in legal disputes. Matters left unresolved contribute to a burgeoning backlog in the legal system, impeding its overall efficiency. This bottleneck, in turn, hampers the timely resolution of other cases, creating a cascading effect on the entire legal process and potentially eroding public trust in the judicial system.

Available information suggests, 23 civil and 15 criminal matters are pending for 20 to 30 years. Another 3249 are awaiting adjudication for 10 to 20 years and 1,30,450 are pending for five to 10 years. No less than 4,93,472 cases are pending for one to three years and 4,93,956 up to one year are yet to be decided.

Haryana has 21 sessions divisions. The direct fallout of the colossal pendency is long adjournments and lesser number of hearings in a year, hampering the protection of fundamental rights. The effect of the ever-increasing pendency of cases is also reflected in an increase in the number of under-trials or un-convicted prisoners lodged in the jails.