By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, SEPT 03, 2018: WHILE addressing a large gathering at an event organised by the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association on Saturday, the President of India, Mr Ram Nath Kovind, said that the judges are overburdened by the sheer volume of cases and there is backlog of about 3.3 Crore cases in various courts of the country. Of these, 2.84 crore cases are in the subordinate courts. Another 43 lakh are in the High Courts and about 58,000 in the Supreme Court.

He said that there are many reasons for such delays. There are infrastructure gaps and considerable vacancies, particularly in subordinate courts. There is a culture of seeking adjournments as a norm rather than an exception. New thinking is gradually taking place on frequent adjournments. "I have been told that the judiciary is making sincere efforts to curb this practice. I am confident that the members of the entire legal fraternity will resolve not to seek adjournments except in absolutely unavoidable circumstances," he added.

The President observed that various governments and government agencies themselves are party to many cases of litigation. He commended the government of India for making a sincere effort to reduce this number. Several remedial measures have been taken in recent times. For example, the government has enhanced the threshold for filing appeals in tax disputes in various tribunals and courts. In the Supreme Court, the threshold has gone up from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore. The government has also decided to withdraw many pending appeals. The government has piloted the Enactment of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act 2015. This aims at efficient and fair disposal of complex commercial disputes, especially of high value. It eases business procedures. Further amendments have been made to this Act in 2018. They will benefit small investors involved in disputes of even three lakh rupees, he added.
 
Mr Kovind noted that there has been a conscious rationalisation of tribunals. 36 identified tribunals have been merged to form 18 tribunals. This prevents overlapping of jurisdictions and provides greater clarity in ensuring early solutions and justice to aggrieved parties. These are only some of the measures that the government has taken. There are so many more.