Srinagar: The state High Court has asked presiding officers of the subordinate courts to conclude cases of under-trial prisoners of more than six months in magisterial trials and more than two years duration in Sessions trials within three months.
According to a circular by the Registrar General, the presiding officers have also been accord priority to these cases as well as hear pending appeals where convicts have completed custody of five years.
Apart from it, they have been asked to also accord priority to all the ten years old cases.
“The aforesaid categories of cases shall, as far as possible, be concluded in about next three months,” the Registrar General said.
Last year, according to the data released by the high court, there were over 2 lakh cases pending in the high court and subordinate courts in the state till June. 58552 cases were pending in the state’s highest court and of them 53534 were civil while 5018 are of criminal nature. Of the overall cases, 22679(civil) and 859 (criminal) were pending for more than five years.
Similarly, the report states that there 141910 cases—(48080 civil) and 93830 (criminal)—were pending in the subordinate courts. Of them, 3512 (civil) and 4911 (criminal) cases were pending for more than half a decade.
The data compiled in different categories provide an insight to the work load of the Courts at different levels and the work accomplished by the Courts.