Himachal plans litigation free village in each district

SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh plans to make one village in each district free from litigation by settling all pending cases related to its residents within a year.

Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Kurian Joseph Wednesday said: “We have plans to make one village in every district litigation free within one year. For this, the high court is taking the help of the state legal services authority.”

“Nine law colleges (both private and government) in the state will help the legal services authority in identifying one village in each district,” he said.

“The high court would monitor the cases (of that particular village) so that these are settled within the time frame at the level of civil courts, the high court and even the Supreme Court,” he added.

Chief Justice Joseph, who assumed charge in February, said the pendency in the high court has come down to 45,000 cases from 54,000 cases since he joined. “Some cases have been pending since 1987,” he said.

“Around 4,500 cases filed by the senior citizens are pending in the high court. No case of senior citizen should be kept pending for over one year,” he added.