3335 cases pending in High Court, says new Chief Justice
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, October 20 2023: Siddharth Mridul has been sworn in as the seventh chief justice of Manipur High Court on Friday with Governor Anusuiya Uikey administering the oath of office in a swearing in ceremony held at the Darbar Hall of Raj Bhavan.

Justice Siddharth Mridul of Delhi High Court was appointed as the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court by the President of India on October 16 .

After the swearing-in ceremony, Chief Justice Siddharth Mridul told the media that he is looking forward for a productive tenure in office.

Stating that a total of 3,335 cases are pending in the High Court, Justice Siddharth Mridul assured to look into those pending cases and try to discharge them at the earliest possible time.

Sources said that there are 144,900 cases, including violent crimes against women, pending in Manipur courts since 2014 -2022.The total cases pending in the Manipur High Court from 2014 to 2022 was 73,565 while in district and subordinate courts, it was 71,335 during the same time period.

The pending cases in the Manipur High Court as per the year are - 2014-4374; 2015-3315; 2016-3286; 2017-3670; 2018-3062; 2019 2468; 2020-2849; 2021-3218; 2022-47323.And, in district and subordinate courts of Manipur, the pending cases each year are - 2014-14,249; 2015-14,988; 2016-15,239; 2017-14,775; 2018-13,584; 2019-13,673; 2020-15,830; 2021 16,010; 2022-15,576 .

A total of 17,628 cases were disposed of in the High Court of Manipur between 2014 and 2022 .

The disposal of cases includes 2014-1926; 2015-1611; 2016-1726; 2017-1325; 2018-2527; 2019-2265; 2020-717; 2021-1151; 2022-4380.As many as 45,972 cases were also disposed of in district and subordinate courts of Manipur from 2014 to 2022 .

The disposal of cases in 2014 was 14,257; 2015-7395; 2016-6588; 2017-5256; 2018-4379; 2019-3717; 2020- 1747; 2021-1411; and 2022-1222.Chief Minister N Biren was among the dignitaries who attended the swearing-in-ceremony.

In his Twitter account, N Biren Singh tweeted, "I congratulate Hon'ble Justice Siddharth Mridul on taking oath as the 7th Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court.

It's a significant moment for the judiciary in Manipur.

The CM further tweeted, "Justice Siddharth Mridul throughout his career, practiced law in various jurisdictions, including the Delhi High Court, as well as other renowned courts and tribunals.

He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Delhi High Court in 2008 and later became a Permanent Judge in 2009" .

Notably, the office of the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court fell vacant in February 2023 with the elevation of Justice PV Sanjay Kumar to the Supreme Court of India.

To fill up the vacant post, on July 5, the Supreme Court Collegium proposed the appointment of Justice Mridul as the next CJ.

Justice MV Muralidaran was serving as the Acting Chief Justice meanwhile.

On September 27, the Supreme Court expressed concerns at the collegium recommendations remaining pending with the Centre.

The bench led by Justice SK Kaul told the Attorney General for India that the proposal for the appointment of Chief Justice of a "sensitive" High Court (alluding to the High Court) is also among the pending resolutions.

The Centre then notified Justice Mridul's appointment as aforesaid on October 16.Justice Siddharth Mridul completed his LLB from Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, in 1986.He enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi the same year.

On the other hand, Attorney General of India R Venkataramani called on the Governor at Raj Bhavan on Friday.

During the meeting, Governor informed him about the prevailing situation in the state and about her continuous visits to different relief camps both in the hills and in the valley districts.

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