Evening court system a hit in Gujarat

A decision to start evening courts in Gujarat has been welcomed by people across the board, with most saying that it will reduce the case backlog.

By Ami Sharma

Ahmedabad, Aug.9 : A decision to start evening courts in Gujarat has been welcomed by people across the board, with most saying that it will reduce the case backlog.

Started on experimental basis last November, the evening courts first took up cases related to minor offences, and later progressed to criminal cases.

"The courts are running well, just like the morning courts. A lot of cases are being handled. Till now 26,000 cases have been taken up," said J.J. Patel, an advocate.

These courts function from 6.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. every day.

"These evening courts are really good. We can come here after work and so our office work doesn't gets hampered. It also saves a lot of time," said Jigneshbhai, a petitioner.

This double-shift system introduced in Gujarat courts have immensely helped to clear off large backlog of cases.

Chief Justice of India K.G Balakrishnan had earlier appreciated the introduction of the evening court concept in Gujarat, and appealed other States to follow suit.

The Government of Gujarat has agreed to pay judges, lawyers and court staff an additional 25 percent of their basic salary for attending evening courts. The evening court has also emerged as a new platform to prove legal ability.

The numerical strength of High Court judges is on the lower side, and there is a proposal to increase their number, Chief Justice Balakrishnan said.

Delivering a recent lecture on `Judicial Review of Administrative Acts, the Chief Justice had stated that he had received requests from various courts for increasing the number of judges.

Pointing out that there were 110 judges per million people in countries like Britain, he said such a ratio was not possible in a poor country like India. But at least 20 to 25 judges were required for every million people so that the pending cases could be disposed of, he remarked.

He noted with regret that judges received the people`s rebuke for the large pendency of cases. Judges of foreign countries were taken aback when they learnt that 1.56 crore cases were pending in courts in India, he said.

With more than 70 courts, Gujarat has been able to dispose of around 100,000 criminal and civil cases pending till today.Sixteen evening courts in Ahmedabad district have solved approximately 30,000 cases till date.

At present, Gujarat is the only State having provision for evening courts.

In July, the former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had asked the judiciary to reduce the huge backlog of pending cases at various levels, at least by 60 percent within five years.

Over three million cases are pending in India's 21 High courts, and an astounding 26.3 million cases are pending in subordinate courts across the country. At the same time, there are almost a quarter million under-trials languishing in jails across the country.

Of these, some 2,069 have been in jail for more than five years, even as their guilt or innocence is yet to be ascertained. This has been revealed by official figures emerging from the Home Ministry's department of justice, under a Right to Information Act application placed by a citizen.

The Supreme Court of India had a total of 39,780 civil and criminal pending cases at the end of 2006.

Uttar Pradesh again topped the number of pending cases (4.6 million), followed by Maharashtra (4.1 million), Gujarat (3.9 million), West Bengal (1.9 million), Bihar (1.2 million), Karnataka (1.06 million), Rajasthan (1.05 million), Orissa (1 million), Andhra Pradesh (900,000).

ANI