2.5 crore cases pending in courts: PM

New Delhi, Apr 8 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said there were 2.5 crore cases, majority of them criminal, pending in courts across the country and the number of fresh cases is more than the number disposed.

Expressing deep concern over the backlog of cases, the Prime Minister said there has been some progress in reducing pendency in superior courts. The position in subordinate courts has hardly shown any improvement.

''Unless the rate of disposal improves, the backlog will keep mounting,'' Dr Singh said in his address while inaugurating the conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts on ''Administration of Justice on Fast Track'' here.

''Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the throughput of cases.'' he said.

If the Rule of Law has to become a living reality these delays and these arrears have to be effectively curbed.

An important factor causing pendency is the number of vacancies that presently remain unfilled in the subordinate judiciary. This is one area where the States and the High Courts have to come forward and execute and implement a time bound exercise for filling up vacancies.

''I am sure once the unfilled vacancies are filled up there would definitely be reduction in the arrears,'' the Prime Minister said.

To increase the disposal of cases courts may consider having more than one shift, he said. A massive exercise has been taken up to computerise all the district and subordinate courts of the country, linking them with the highest court. The first phase of this exercise is to be implemented very soon.

Dr Singh hoped computerisation will help courts reduce pendency.

Fast Track Courts are another answer to dealing with the problem of arrears. Though the initial scheme of Fast Track Courts was to end in the year 2005, the Government has extended it to 2010, providing central support to the States.

The Government has provided Rs 509 crore for this purpose.

However, the receipt of utilisation reports from the States in this regard is not very satisfactory and hence, there are delays in disbursal.

''I sincerely hope State Governments will take note of this and speed up procedures to ensure smooth flow of central assistance for this very important purpose.'' The Prime Minister expressed hope that under Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan many new initiatives will undoubtedly be taken to provide relief to the litigants and the faith of the people in judiciary will be reinforced and strengthened.

On Public Interest Litigation, he said, ''We need standards and benchmarks for screening PILs so that only genuine PILs with a justiciable cause of action based on judicially manageable standards are taken up.

This will also ensure consistency in judicial pronouncements.

The Supreme Court could take the lead in framing rules in this regard.'' UNI RT RP GC1448