Pending cases may touch 5 crore mark in two months: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju
New Delhi, Dec 6: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said the number of pending cases across various courts could touch the five crore mark in a couple of months.
Expressing concern over the issue of pendency, he said while such cases are likely to come down in the Supreme Court and high courts, the "real challenge" is in the lower courts.
Addressing an event at the Delhi High Court in the presence of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, the minister said the number of pending cases is inching towards the five crore mark and flagged the issue of inadequate infrastructure in lower courts.
Till a few months back, the pending cases were estimated at 4.83 crores.
"I try to analyse about the bottleneck when we take the numbers. It is inching towards the five crore pendency. It is a matter of great concern," he said.
Rijiju said he has to reply on the pendency issue in Parliament and elsewhere.
"It is really difficult for me to answer ... it is about to reach five crore. At the present rate, maybe it will take another couple of months to reach the five crore figure, which does not sound nice," he said.
The majority of the cases are pending with the subordinate judiciary.
"I feel the pendency in the SC and the HCs will come down, but the real challenge is in the lower courts. The infrastructure in the lower courts is a real challenge for me and that is the responsibility of the central government and the state governments together," he said.
Rijiju said he clearly sees that in the very near future, the Indian judiciary will go paperless.
A digital judiciary will have a huge impact on the justice delivery mechanism, he underlined.
He said the judicial process is time-consuming. However, once all documents are available at the click of a button, things will become faster.
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It's a huge surprise, they deserved on-field send-off: Kumble on Kohli, Rohit's Test retirements
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New Delhi (PTI): The "quiet" Test retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma ahead of the tour of England came as a "huge surprise" to legendary spinner and former India captain Anil Kumble, who believes the two senior batters deserved an on-field farewell.
Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket on Monday, bringing the curtains down on an illustrious red-ball career in which he played 123 matches, scoring 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, including 30 centuries.
This was after Rohit decided to step away from the longest format last Thursday.
"It is a huge surprise. Two outstanding, great players retiring on the back of few days. I didn't see it coming. It has certainly caught me off guard. I thought he has a few more years left in him, especially at the Test level," Kumble said on Kohli on 'ESPNCricinfo'.
"He's playing only the ODI format now. No player leaves with any regret and I am sure he would have thought through this and ultimately it is the player's call."
Kumble, who ended as India's leading Test wicket-takers with 619 scalps, said players of such stature should have been given an opportunity to bow out in front of fans.
"It is a very quiet exit. Every player deserves to leave on his terms, but I think on the field. We spoke about this when R Ashwin retired as well, right in the middle of the series he announced his retirement and came back (to India from Australia).
"Right now, Rohit Sharma a few days ago and then Virat Kohli. I think all three of them deserved a proper send off on the field. I strongly believe people who matter need to address that. I know it is a social media age, yes the fans want to be there, there would have been plenty of fans and have a roaring send off.
India are scheduled to tour England for a five-match Test series starting June 20. Kumble said Kohli could have played a crucial role during the challenging assignment.
