Ahmedabad ranks fourth in the country for district court case pendency with about 3.6 lakh pending matters, a national-level review has found. Surat, ranked 80th with around 1.3 lakh pending cases, is the other Gujarat district among the 100 judicial districts identified as ‘hotspots’ by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Govt of India.
Further, those identified 100 districts account for over half of all district-court pendency,’ a release issued by the ministry stated.
Senior Ministry officials, including MoS Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal , convened a meeting with vice- chancellors of 19 national law universities (NLUs) from 16 states. Prof S Shanthakumar, director of GNLU, confirmed the development and said the university will work with Ahmedabad and Surat district court officials under the initiative.
‘During the discussions, various alternatives like identifying infructuous cases, case profiling, alternative dispute resolution, management of adjournments, plea bargaining, mediation assisted settlements, bringing summary trial process etc. were deliberated upon,’ the release said. “The idea is to assess the pending cases, identify root causes of delay and suggest possible strategies to reduce the pendency,” he said. He will lead the project with faculty members and senior students as part of the team, officials said.
It was suggested that NLUs can use their pro bono clubs, researchers and students for ground-level analysis of pendency in selected districts.