5-year-old cases in district judiciary

Srinagar, Sep 3: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh Tuesday issued guidelines for ensuring the disposal of over 5-year-old cases in district judiciary in Jammu and Kashmir.

A circular issued by the Registrar General, Shahzad Azeem, asks the Principal District Judge of each district to constitute a ‘District Case Management Committee’ presided over by him, a senior Additional District Judge (if available), and a Senior Civil Judge preferably a CJM to supervise the case management strategy.

The circular says that the committee may invite the Judicial Officers concerned in whose courts the oldest cases are pending, the president, office bearers, and members of the Bar Association as well as government pleaders and public prosecutors to the meetings if it is felt necessary.

While the circular indicates that the District Case Management Committee should hold periodical meetings at the district headquarters on the last working day of every month, it says that the judicial officers working at places other than the district headquarters might opt to attend the meeting through virtual mode.

“The Principal District Judge should set the schedule and agenda of review meetings of the Case Management Committee on a monthly basis to monitor the progress of disposal of old cases and to issue directions or make suggestions to Judicial Officers for the speedy disposal of such oldest and target cases,” it states.

The circular urges that the District Case Management Committee should identify and indicate the oldest cases in the courts of the Magistrates, Civil Judges, or in the courts of District and Sessions Judges, identify target cases and ensure,

in consultation with the Administrative Judge of the district, the equitable and rationalised distribution of the oldest and target cases among Judicial Officers within the district regard being had to the nature of the cases and their stage of proceedings.

“Wherever practicable the complicated cases should be assigned to the senior and more experienced Judicial Officers,” the circular says.