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Synopsis

The Supreme Court of India recently observed that the Allahabad High Court is flooded with litigation. While raising serious concerns regarding the pendency of cases, the court has noted that each judge of the high court is currently handling nearly 15,000 to 20,000 cases.

The court also pointed out that although the high court has a sanctioned strength of 160 judges, it is unfortunately functioning with only 84 judges.

A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan was hearing a petition filed by one Kamla Bai, aged around 95, who had fervently appealed to the high court to take up her second appeal and to decide the matter expeditiously.

In view of this, the apex court ordered that the present petition be treated as a representation addressed to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court.

It asked the Registry to forward one copy of the writ petition along with the order to the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court. Accordingly, the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court has been asked to look into the matter and pass an appropriate order in this regard on its administrative side.

The court further noted that, in the past two months, numerous cases have been filed before the top court by litigants seeking directions for the high court to expedite the hearings, wherein cases have been pending before the Allahabad High Court for over three decades.

"The litigants are eagerly waiting for their matters be taken up and decided", the court said while adding that the only way forward is to take necessary steps at the earliest to fill the vacancies by recommending suitable persons based purely on merit and ability.

Recently, the Supreme Court of India had expressed its concerns over the functioning of the Allahabad High Court, saying that the situation was worrisome. Justice Kant had said, "See we don't want to comment..some of the High Courts, we don’t know what will happen. This is one of the High Courts one should be worrisome about it... Filing has collapsed, the listing has collapsed, and nobody knows which matter will be listed..."

Case Title: KAMLA BAI VERSUS HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD & ORS