More than 4 lakh cases pending at Metropolitan Magistrate Court, reveals RTI

There are over 4 lakh cases pending at the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Mumbai as of March 31, 2018. Of these nearly 10 per cent are as old as 10 years old. The information was provided to Chetan Kothari, who had sought the details under the RTI Act. 

As per the details, cases more than five years old but less than 10 years stood at 15 per cent of the total number of cases that are pending in 75 courts in the metropolitan. 

The oldest case as per the reply given was from 1973.

While the number of cases pending at the Metropolitan Magistrate Court is 4,09,693, disposal has seen a sudden jump in the last two years. From 4,53,759 cases disposed of in 2013, the number jumped to 10,28,621 in 2016. 

In 2017, the cases disposed of stood at 9,44,224. The public information officer stated  while giving the details that 11 of the 75 courts do not have a judge presiding over them. 

“Pendency is increasing day by day. People need to get justice soon or else they will start losing faith in the judiciary. In my own case, a fight is on in the court since 2011” said Kothari, the applicant.

STILL HANGING

• No. of pending cases as of March 31: 4,09,693 
   
• Pending for over 5 and up to 10 years: 64,073 
   
• Cases pending for over 10 years: 37,393 
   
• No. of disposals in all courts:  2,10,390