Curtail tendency among litigants to delay trials: Punjab and Haryana High Court

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 13

As the subordinate judiciary in the states of Punjab and Haryana, along with UT Chandigarh, continues to face the problem of plenty, the Punjab and Haryana High has made it clear that the tendency among litigants to delay trials was required to be curtailed with a heavy hand.

The assertion by Justice Sudhir Mittal of the HC comes at a time when over 11,50,670 cases are pending in Haryana, and over 8,44,435 are awaiting adjudication in Punjab. Functioning in a restricted mode for more than a year following the Covid outbreak, the court was initially hearing a limited number of cases through videoconferencing. Although physical functioning has resumed to some extent in the subordinate judiciary, the process of hearing matters is yet to gain momentum.

As a result of the inordinate pendency of cases, it is suspected that many of the petitioners are no more there to pursue their grievances. When some of these cases are suddenly listed, the counsels are often at a loss in the absence of complete records or instructions. Attribute it to the shortage of judges in the subordinate judiciary, or the filing of frivolous pleas and delaying tactics, the fact remains that the delay also tends to change the course of the outcome.

The assertion came in a civil suit where the trial court vide an impugned order dated March 2, 2020, rejected the defendant-petitioner’s application for leading additional evidence. Referring to the facts of the case, Justice Mittal asserted the defendant-petitioner was obviously trying to delay the trial and such tactics could not be condoned in law. The trial court noted that the defendant-petitioner did not examine himself and his own witness, despite 17 opportunities having been granted to him. “The tendency amongst litigants to delay the trials is on the rise and this adds to the arrears of the courts of law. The time is now right to curtail such tendencies,” Justice Mittal ruled.

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