With lawyers disrupting work 100 days a year, pending cases skyrocket in UP

According to a report submitted to the Allahabad High Court, an average of 100 working days was lost every year for the past five years due to lawyers going on strike in the state.

As per the data obtained from the National Judicial Grid, Uttar Pradesh has over 53 lakh cases pending till date, which accounts for nearly a quarter of total pendency in all states taken together. Trial courts generally work for an average of 250 days a year after discounting weekly and religious holidays. With another 100 days disrupted due to strikes, the staggering number of pending cases comes as no surprise.

The reasons given by lawyers for the strikes are quite bizarre, and range from rainy days, providing moral support to Anna Hazare, the bomb blast in an army school in Pakistan, and being tired after the Republic Day programme.

The panel that prepared the report said it found lawyers went on strikes on unacceptable and flimsy grounds. “In most of the districts, the strike is virtually institutionalised. Often these strikes are called for some specific actions, where a group of lawyers either does not want a particular case to be taken up or they desire a particular matter to be adjourned.”