1.6 lakh cases pending before High Court of Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: As many as 160886 cases were pending disposal before the Kerala High Court as on March 31 this year. Of them, 36370 were criminal cases.

The district courts had pendency of 34772 civil cases and 32559 criminal cases. Sub courts had pendency of 56356 civil and 18351 criminal cases.

The civil cases before munsiff’s courts numbered 1.86 lakhs while the magistrate courts had 9.5 lakh criminal cases pending.  The pendency of civil and criminal cases in special courts was 3240 and 6841 respectively.

According to information obtained by Human Rights Defence Forum, Kochi, under RTI Act,  the highest number of cases were disposed of by  Mr. Justice Muhammed Mustaque. He had decided 20088 cases between his appointment in January 2014 and May 31 this year. On the other hand, Mr. Justice P. B. Suresh Kumar, who was appointed in May 2014, has disposed of only 2628 cases till May this year.

Of seven judges appointed in April 2015, Mr. Justice Sunil Thomas has decided 4500 petitions while Mrs. Justice Mary Joseph disposed of only 993 petitions till the end of May this year.

Acting Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan has disposed of 28600 cases since he became judge on October 14, 2004. At the same time, Mr. Justice Antony Dominic, who became judge on January 30, 2007, disposed of 43780 petitions till May end.

Other toppers regarding disposals are Mr. Justice P. R. Ramachandra Menon (appointed in 2009), Mr. Justice K. Vinod Chandran (appointed in 2011) and Mr. Justice B. Kemal Pasha (appointed in 2013).  Of them, Justice Pasha has disposed of 11221 cases over 40 months while Justice Chandra disposed of 20283 cases in 55 months.

Mr. Justice P. D. Rajan, who was appointed judge on January 28, 2013, has disposed of only 4130 cases till May end. Similarly, Mr. Justice P. N. Ravindran has disposed of only 15943 cases till May end since his appointment on December 13, 2007.

Duration of pendency as well as time taken for disposal of cases depends on various factors such as the nature of the case, readiness on the part of advocates to contest the case, availability of supporting documents/evidence etc.  The number of cases disposed of by each judge also depends on the jurisdiction conferred on the judge from time to time.

Advocate D. B. Binu of the Forum said that he did not get full details of cases reserved for judgement by the High Court.  However, there total number is stated to be 42. Though this might be technically correct, the actual number of cases awaiting judgement after completion of hearing was higher.

The Chief Justices of Supreme Court and High Court had issued directions for speedy disposal of cases order than five years.