HC issues additional guidelines for disposal of old cases

Srinagar, Oct 23: The High Court of J&K and ladakh has issued additional guidelines with regard to disposal of old cases which are required to be adhered to by the District Judiciary.

According to a circular issued by Registrar General, Shahzad Azeem, the District Case Management Committees shall prepare a list of targeted cases for each Court within the District along with details, copy of which be sent to the Member Secretary SCMS Committee, High Court of J&K & Ladakh.

“The DCM Committee shall, in this regard, convene and hold meetings with the members of the Bar to ensure that the Bar members are fully engaged in & supportive of the efforts to reduce arrears,” the Circular said.

The DCM Committee, the circular says, shall discuss and frame timelines and other necessary steps in consultation with Judicial Officers at the District level. “Copy of the minutes of the DCM Committee meetings be sent to the Member Secretary SCMS Committee, High Court of J&K and Ladakh”.

The circular underscores that the Presiding Officer of each Court shall carry out a comprehensive physical verification of the case files in their Courts and the process shall be completed within one month.

“After completion of the physical verification, they shall reconcile

the findings with the data shown on the National Judicial Data Grid/CIS and the compliance report with anomalies, if any, be immediately submitted to the Member Secretary SCMS Committee, High Court of J&K and Ladakh,” it says.

The Presiding Officer of each Court shall identify undated cases and make concerted efforts to assign hearing dates to each case as promptly as possible and shall send details of such cases to the Member-Secretary SCMS Committee of the High Court.

The circular indicates that the Presiding Officer of each Court shall ensure that if the record of an old/targeted case included in the action plan is/has been lost, efforts be made to reconstruct the record at the earliest by soliciting copies from the parties, retrieving relevant court orders etc. “The DCM Committee shall ensure that such case files are reconstructed at the earliest after following proper procedure. Copy of the list of such cases and then send to the Member Secretary SCMS Committee, High Court ofJ&K and Ladakh”.

The circular underlies that the Principal District Judges shall ensure and manage equitable distribution of old/target cases in the concerned courts within the district and discuss this aspect in the DCM Committee meetings. “They shall make a comprehensive assessment of the current caseload taking into account the complexity and nature of each case as also the expertise & experience of the judicial officers & the existing case load assigned to the judicial officers with a view to ensure that the cases are allocated in a manner that balances the work-load across judges and prevents one judge from being excessively burdened”.

Notably, the additional guidelines are in continuation with the guidelines of the guidelines the High Court issued in terms of circulation dated 5.12.2023.