Chief Justice of India concerned over 3.5 crore pending court cases

Chennai, July 25 (ANI): Chief Justice of India K.G.Balakrishnan on Saturday expressed concern over about 3.5 crore pending cases in courts across the country and said that filing of cases has grown by 28 percent in the last few years.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the High Court Judges Guest House in Chennai, the Chief Justice of India K.G.Balakrishnan, said: "We are not able to bring it down significantly though we want to. Some states in the country don't pay enough attention to the judiciary. Unless there is a large number of courts, how can the pendency come down?."

Pointing out the loss of man-hours because of lawyers' resorting to strike over various issues, the CJI advised lawyers to resort to protest only if something serious happens to the legal fraternity or they run the risk of being "relegated" by society.

"A large number of days are lost by strike, which is very unfortunate. Resort to strike only if something serious happens to the legal fraternity," the CJI K.G. Balakrishnan said. he frequent strikes add to woes of increasing pendency of cases as "it is very painful to not to dispose off cases," said the Chief Justice of India while adding that cases should be disposed off in a maximum of two years.

By resorting to strikes, advocates were doing no good to society or their profession and there is a danger of their being "relegated" by the public if there are frequent boycotts of courts by advocates, the CJI remarked. (ANI)