Orissa High Court Clears 40K Cases Transferred From SAT

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court’s backlog increased substantially by the end of 2021 following the abolition of the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT), but the situation has been brought under control by disposing over 80 per cent of these cases.

The High Court’s registry said in a press release that 49,817 cases were transferred from the Tribunal to the High Court and there was also consequential filing of service matter cases related to the State government.

The number of pending cases went up from 1,72,785 on January 4, 2021 to 1,95,888 on December 31, 2021. However, to bring the situation under control multiple benches were constituted and disposal of such cases were prioritised. As a result, around 40,000 such cases have been already disposed of, it said.

As pendency of old cases remains a major challenge, efforts are on to reduce the number of such cases by hearing them on priority basis. In order to give special focus, separate monthly cause lists for the old cases are being published for timely information to the lawyers before listing them for hearing.

Despite challenges like COVID-19, abolition of SAT and resultant increase in filing of cases it could still manage the soaring pendency of cases primarily with increased working strength of judges, it said.

Following problems posed by the pandemic in 2020, hybrid mode for hearing of cases was introduced in the early part of 2021, which facilitated the lawyers to conduct cases at their convenience, both physically and in virtual mode. All these steps led to substantial increase in the disposal of cases compared to previous years, the release added.