Bhubaneswar: With over 19 lakh cases pending in lower courts, the govt on Wednesday decided to open 56 new courts, with the highest number, 13, in the tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district, for speedy trial of cases and to enhance judicial infrastructure.“Our aim to have courts in every block will be a success soon. We emphasise an easy and quick justice delivery system, allowing people to avail of judicial services close to their homes. The work on new courts will start soon,” said law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan.Besides having a civil judge (junior division)-cum-judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) for each court, there will be a bench clerk, stenographers, junior clerks, typists, copyists, house orderlies, peons, and watchmen for the courts to function in a full-fledged manner, a law department letter said. For the courts, 840 new gazetted and non-gazetted posts will be created.The lower courts have a total backlog of 316,057 civil cases and 1,604,768 criminal cases. The previous year witnessed the filing of 418,016 criminal cases, whilst 456,352 were concluded. In the civil category, 81,014 new cases were registered, and 99,776 were resolved. Official records indicated a surge in criminal cases attributed to 42,819 MV Act violations detected through automated CCTV-based challans.The district-wise analysis shows Khurda courts leading with 208,064 unresolved cases, with Cuttack following at 199,154 cases. Balasore and Jajpur districts report 132,003 and 101,294 pending cases respectively. Also, significant case backlogs exist in Ganjam (98,835), Sundargarh (97,696), Bhadrak (96,897), and Angul (90,559) districts.Explaining the significance of having more JMFC courts, Odisha high court lawyer Trilochan Nanda said such courts can take all cases into cognisance, but some big and heinous cases are not triable there. “The JMFC courts can try and hear cases of theft and sundry offences, although they can remand to judicial custody persons involved in murder too. A murder case can’t be tried in a JMFC court. These have to be transferred to a sessions court. In our state, there are additional and session courts at the sub-division level,” Nanda said.He further explained that it is a significant development because, for all petty cases, people from remote villages had to frequently attend court for each hearing. Now, theft, minor brawls, misbehaviour, and intimidation can be heard in JMFC courts.
