Delay in disposal of cases: Judges overburdened

SHILLONG: The district court in East Khasi Hills is burdened with pending cases and this is mounting as the number of cases disposed of every year is far less than the number of cases instituted.
Reason is simple: hands of judges are full with additional responsibilities.
While a single Judge handles cases of Special Court NDPS, CBI, CID, Consumer Court, Vigilance Court, Special Court, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, and Motor Vehicle Accidents Tribunal among others, there are also other Judges who are entrusted with multiple tasks.
Admitting the multiple responsibilities of the Judges in the district, the public prosecutor     IC Jha said that the ideal situation should have been to reduce the burden of the Judges.
It was at the end of 2013 that the State Government set up a Special Court to try the arson cases related to ILP agitation. The damage suit in this regard was over Rs 31 crore. But the case has not made much progress.
The Judge of the Special Court dealing with the damage suit is also assistant to DC,  Munsiff,  Judicial Magistrate, and also chairs Special Court,  Meghalaya Maintenance of Public Order (MMPO).
“Moreover, the duties of District Judge and Sessions Judge are not separated as both take up civil and criminal cases. The ideal situation is that District Judge looks after cases of civil nature whereas the Sessions Judge deals with criminal cases,” Jha said.
While the Chief Judicial Magistrate also functions as Assistant to DC, and Principal Judicial Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Board, two judicial magistrates are also assistants to D C.
In this context, Jha stressed the need of finding out a mechanism to address the issue of pending cases.