Mumbai: In a first, the Bombay high court has decided to hear cases during the summer vacation from May 8 to June 2. Select judges, apart from the vacation judge, will take up final hearing matters that would be placed before a division bench and single judges. According to officials, the decision is intended to expedite cases and clear the backlog of more than 5,000 cases, some of which are pending since 1980. The hearing of these cases will not affect the regular working of the vacation bench that will function separately.
Mangesh Patil, registrar general, Bombay high court said that the decision to continue hearing cases during the summer vacation had been proposed and decided upon by the chief justice after conferring with the sitting judges during the full house meet held last month.
“The list of cases to be heard has been prepared on the basis of ready for final hearing and are under both the appellate and original side. Writs and appeals pending from 1980 to 2004 will be heard by single and division benches depending on the availability of the judges,” said Mr Patil.
He further added that the list of cases that are proposed to be heard during the vacations has already been put up for perusal on the high court website. Those litigants and advocates who are to appear for the cases are given time of upto April 30 to confirm or refuse hearing of the cases during the one month period.
In all, there are around 5,000 cases which include 1,000 civil writ petitions that will be heard by a single judge while 300 civil writs will be heard by a division bench. Around 1,900 criminal appeals will be heard by a single judge and 554 by a division bench. A single judge will also be hearing around 700 first appeals while a division bench will hear 129 first appeals. Around 535 writ petitions from original side will also be heard.
