The deadline was announced today by Justice Jain in a workshop titled ‘workshop of speeding up of criminal justice system’, organised by the Punjab State Legal Services Authority.

Expressing concern over the “credibility” of judiciary and police force among public, the Chief Justice said, “It has to be ensured that the fundamental right to a speedy trial does not remain merely a pipedream for millions of people. A procedure which does not provide trial and disposal within a reasonable period cannot be said to be just, fair and reasonable.”

He shared the figures and data of pending cases in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, with the law and police officials. In Chandigarh, 5589 cases more than 5 years old, 425 cases more than 10 years old and 18 cases more than 20 years old are pending.

A similar workshop for Haryana was conducted last year. “The initiative taken by us in Haryana has shown considerable results. On February 9, 2007 a total of 55,469 criminal cases of more than five years were pending which have been reduced to 36,598. Similarly, out of 1503 cases of more than ten years old, nine hundred cases have been disposed of,” he said.

The Chief Justice said in Punjab, the number of cases which are pending for more than five years is 23,702 with Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Jalandhar and Patiala leading the table. Similarly, 1316 cases are pending in Punjab for more than 10 years. Moreover, 21 cases (nine in Ludhiana, five in Amritsar, three in Bathinda, three in Patiala and one in Gurdaspur) are pending for more than 20 years.

“Disposal should not result in manifesting injustice,” Jain said. Speaking to the media, the Chief Justice held the entire system responsible for delay in delivering justice. He said there was inertia in the system. “It is time to wake up from our deep slumber,” he said.

He said that in order to expedite the speedy trial more judges were required. “I had written to the Centre. We require another 100 judges in the system so that the backlog can be finished. By this year end, we will start witnessing the change. I am of the view that whenever the Parliament makes a law, the number of Judges should also be increased so that the law can be effectively implemented. Similarly, for NRI courts if the posts are sanctioned, a separate Judge can be appointed to deal with problems pertaining to NRIs”.