New Delhi, July 13(ANI): Union Minister of Law and Justice, Veerappa Moily, on Monday said that more than 2.6 crore cases were pending in the subordinate courts and over 39 lakh cases were pending in high courts across the country.

“As per the reports received from the Registries of the High Courts, 39,10,858 cases were pending in the High Courts and 2,66,50,467 cases were pending in the Subordinate Courts as on December 31, 2008,” Moily said.

Moily also said that according to information received from the Registry of the Supreme Court, 50,659 matters (31,363 admission matters and 19,296 regular hearing matters) were pending in the Supreme Court as on 1st June 2009.

He further added that government has taken several measures to smooth the progress of cases in courts.

Earlier, government had introduced ‘Fast Track Courts’ to speed up trials in various courts. About 25.07 lakh cases have been disposed of by these courts out of 31.01 lakh cases transferred to them, Moily said.

The minister also informed that the government periodically monitors the strength of judges in high courts and ensures timely filing up of vacancies so that courts does not undergo scarcity of judges.

Moily emphasised that on the basis of reviews, the strength of judges in the Supreme Court has been increased from 26 to 31 and 163 posts of judges have been created in various high courts. (ANI)