About 13 lakh cases are pending in various courts in Odisha. Around 3.50 lakh more cases are being added every year, for which the trial process could not be expedited. Sources said that around 2,72,559 cases were filed in lower courts in 2010. The number increased to over 3 lakh in 2011. However, it reduced to 2,77,170 in 2012. In 2013, the number rose to 3,01,235, and in 2014 the figure was 3,40,213.
Notably, 12,84,058 cases were pending in various courts by July 2014, out of which more than five lakh were five-year-old.
Around two lakh cases are pending in the Orissa High Court, 10 lakh in lower courts and one lakh in tribunals.
If the cases related to land disputes are taken into account, the number would cross 15 lakh, sources said.
However, the number of decided cases has also increased in the past five years in lower courts. A total of 2.50 lakh cases were decided in 2010 while the number was 3,28,616 in 2013 and 4,16,365 in 2014.
Nearly seven lakh criminal cases are pending in different courts. While accused after getting bail are indulging in committing fresh cases, the old cases are pending for years. The trial process in criminal cases appears to have been delayed after the 1970s’ sensational Parshuram Choudhury killing whose verdict came after 40 years.
Keeping the issue in mind, the State Government has been implementing a legal policy in 2011 on recommendation of the Finance Commission with an aim to clear the old cases. But the policy appears to have little impact even after four years of its implementation.
Due to the delay in clearance of criminal cases, the accused are getting acquitted in more than 90 per cent of the cases.
Similarly, the conviction rate in rape cases has been recorded at less than 8 per cent. The conviction rate is lower in Odisha than the national average in the criminal cases.