The average hearing time for listed cases on a particular day in an Indian high court could be as little as two minutes, according to an analysis of cases pending in 21 high courts.
The findings come from the “State of The Indian Judiciary” report released on Wednesday by the Bangalore-based research organisation DAKSH. Their “Rule of Law Project” aims to move the discussion beyond merely the total number of pending cases in India — estimated to be around three crore — to investigate the problem of pendency of cases. As of April 1, 2016, DAKSH had data for more than 40 lakh cases in its database covering 21 high courts and 475 district courts.
Judicial workloadThe time taken per hearing has been computed based on the working hours of judges and number of cases “listed” on a particular day. Thus the data shows that in the Patna High Court, a hearing lasts for around two minutes on an average, as judges hear around 150 cases every day.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Tripura High Court, where the average time per hearing is 15 minutes with judges hearing around 20 cases a day.
“In practice, for instance, if 80 cases are listed, some 40 are adjourned, 35 don’t reach and just five are heard. However, 80 is still used for calculating the average hearing time. According to us, the average time still holds true because there is a decision being made on every step — whether to hear the case or not. Even adjournment is a decision,” Surya Prakash from DAKSH told The Hindu .
This finding is key to judicial reform, the report says, as it is an indicator of the stress faced by judges on a daily basis.
“Putting a cap on the number of hearings will allow reduction in judicial workload and may improve efficiency and also reduce the number of times litigants have to visit courts,” the report says.
Frequency of hearingsThe number of days between two hearings also varies across high courts. For instance, the most frequent hearings are held in the Calcutta High Court, with 16 days between hearings. They are most far apart in the Delhi High Court with 80 days between two hearings, the research found.
“Time spent on a case, the frequency/infrequency of hearings, and change in judicial personnel not only impact understanding of pendency, but also adversely affects the concept of fair hearing, which is a fundamental promise that the judiciary makes to the litigants,” the report says.
The research found that around 82 per cent of cases in high courts have been pending for 10 to 15 years. The Allahabad High Court has the highest average pendency among all Indian high courts, with a case pending for an average of a little more than three years and nine months, whereas the High Court of Sikkim has the lowest average pendency of 10 months.
In the panel discussion that followed the launch of the report, Indira Jaisingh, Senior Advocate at Supreme Court of India, said, “Corporates use most of the court time. Priority in hearing cases should not be given according to date but by subject matter. I know of many pensioner cases which have not been heard for years.”
