An Orissa High Court Bench on Monday delivered judgment in 32 matters, pertaining to mostly civil disputes, in a single day.
The Bench of Justice Debabrata Dash went on a marathon pronouncement of judgments, helping clear the backlog to a certain extent. A majority of the 32 cases listed for judgment were second appeals.
The oldest of the cases disposed on Monday was between Jayadayal Agarwalla and Jogeswar Meher, two private persons. The ordinary civil matter of damage recovery had been in the court since it was filed on July 18, 1988. Earlier, the case was fought in a lower court for six years since 1982. Justice Dash dismissed the appeal.
Similarly, the Collector of Kalahandi had moved the court against encroachment of government land by Prahallad Aghria and others in 1999. Justice Dash admitted the appeal of Kalahandi Collector, which means private persons’ encroachments now stand invalid.
The judge admitted second appeal of government agencies in four cases.
The judgments were pronounced in open court, the copies of which are likely to be uploaded in the court’s website in two to three days.
Orissa High Court currently has 23 judges, including Chief Justice S. Muralidhar. According to court records, as many as 1,72,301 cases are pending as of September 23 this year. The highest among them are writ petitions under Article 226 and 227, with as many as 67,266 cases pending. Similarly, cases challenging judgment and sentences stand at 10,580.
Odisha Law Minister Jagannath Saraka recently informed the State Assembly that more than one lakh cases have been pending for 15 years or more.
