Orissa High Court has achieved a Case Clearance Rate (CCR) of 126.66% by resolving 62,869 cases involving institutions and 49,635 cases in the first half of the year, from January 2024 to June 23. However, the number of cases disposed of decreased during May and June 2024 due to the high court being on summer recess, with only vacation courts operating during that period.
According to the official statement, excluding the vacation months of May and June, the case clearance rate from January to April 2024 was 141.71%. A comparison between the first halves of 2022 and 2024 revealed that in the first half of 2024, an additional 3,019 cases were disposed of, resulting in a net improvement of 14.66% in the case clearance rate.
The statistics indicated a pattern of increasing case disposal rates over the years. In 2021, there was a 42.58% increase in case disposal compared to 2020, followed by a 52.44% increase in 2022 compared to 2021. In 2024, there was a 5.04% increase in case disposal compared to 2022.
The number of judgments delivered by the high court in the first halves of 2021, 2022, and 2024 showed a consistent upward trend. The official statement noted that in the first half of 2024, 1,368 judgments were delivered, whereas, in 2021 and 2022, the numbers were 341 and 982, respectively.
The half-yearly statistics for the first half of 2024 were encouraging, with substantial increases in case disposal and case clearance rates. Consequently, the backlog of pending cases decreased significantly, from 189,847 cases on June 30, 2022, to 146,582 cases on June 30, 2024.
Factors responsible for high clearance rate:
According to the official statement, the improved performance of the high court can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, there has been an increase in the number of judges, which has likely contributed to the more efficient handling of cases.
The implementation of e-initiatives in recent years has played a significant role in streamlining processes and improving overall efficiency.
One crucial factor that has positively impacted the court’s performance is a considerable reduction in the loss of working hours. In the past, abstentions from court work by the Bar references to the demise of judges and lawyers, and leaves taken by judges were major contributors to the loss of judicial hours.
However, since the Supreme Court issued orders on December 12, 2022, and December 14, 2022, in the case of TP(C) No. 2419 of 2019 (M/s. PLR Projects Pvt. Ltd. v. Mahanadi Coal Fields and others), the situation has changed. Since January of the current year, there has been no abstention from work by the Bar, and there has been a significant decline in the loss of judicial hours due to references to the demise of judges and lawyers.
As a result of these improvements, the total loss of judicial hours in the high court during the first half of 2024 decreased to 913.6 hours, compared to 1,395.65 hours in the first half of 2021 and 1,559.15 hours in the first half of 2022.
The official statement also noted that the disposal rate by the District Judiciary has consistently increased each year, with the highest disposal rate recorded in the first half of 2024.
According to the statement, in the first half of 2024, a total of 232,363 cases were instituted, while 202,210 cases were disposed of, resulting in a case clearance rate of 87.02%. Comparatively, in the first half of 2022, 235,620 cases were instituted, with 155,712 cases disposed of at a case clearance rate of 66.09%. In the first half of 2021, 189,315 cases were instituted, and 90,238 cases were disposed of, leading to a case clearance rate of 47.67%. These statistics demonstrate a consistent increase in the number of cases being filed and disposed of each year, accompanied by an improvement in the case clearance rate.
