JUDGMENT

P.P. NAOLEKAR, J.:

1. The Delhi High Court was constituted in 1966. Even after the constitution of the Delhi High Court, the region of Delhi had only one district civil court and one session court. Over the years, with growth in the population of the city, the amount of litigation has seen a constant upward spiral. The very high volume of litigation both on the civil side and on the criminal side has led to a huge backlog of cases and great delays in dispensation of justice, putting the common man and the layman-litigant to great inconvenience.

2. This rather dismal state of affairs in the Delhi courts has not gone unnoticed and at various stages, suggestions and requests have been made to the Union Government for division of the region of Delhi into smaller judicial districts with civil and criminal courts in each district to handle the volume of litigation, to help reduce the backlog of cases and to dispense justice with greater efficacy. The steps taken in this direction will be discussed in greater detail in the latter section of facts.

3. There have been a few petitions on the question of backlog of cases and delay in dispensation of justice. The case filed by the Delhi