Over 2 lakh cases pending in Andhra Pradesh HC: Govt

More than two lakh cases are pending at the Andhra Pradesh High Court (HC) and 5,82,069 cases are pending in lower courts in the state as on September 17.

This information was given by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Rajya Sabha response to question Parimal Nathw, a Member of Parliament from the state, according to a release.

He said 2,03,024 cases were pending in Andhra Pradesh High Court till September 17.

Nathw had asked about the pendency of the cases in the lower courts and the High Courts of Andhra Pradesh and the impact of COVID-19 on the pendency of cases. He had also asked about the steps taken or are being taken by the government to reduce the pendency.

According to the release by Nathw on Friday, the Union Minister stated that after the announcement of nation-wide lockdown, directions were issued by the respective High Courts to the subordinate courts for the hearing of urgent civil and criminal matters in virtual or physical mode.

During the period of lockdown and thereafter, from March 24 to September 13, the district and subordinate courts across the country have disposed 15,32,334 cases, the minister said in his reply.

He said video conferencing facility has been enabled between 3,240 court complexes and 1,272 corresponding jails across India.

The release said a new Software Patch and Court User Manual was recently developed for COVID-19 management. The tool was developed to help in smart scheduling all cases to effectively manage overcrowding in courts, it said.

( With inputs from ANI )