Esplanade court to hold Loknyayalay

MUMBAI, February 26: For the first time in its history, the Esplanade court will hold a Loknyayalay following the success of similar exercis...

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MUMBAI, February 26: For the first time in its history, the Esplanade court will hold a Loknyayalay following the success of similar exercise in two city metropolitan magistrates courts last week to facilitate speedy disposal of pending cases.

The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) and the Bombay Metropolitan Magistrates Court Bar Association (BMMCBA) announced that the Loknyayalay would be held on March seven. Chief Justice of Bombay High Court M B Shah is likely to inaugurate it. Over 250 pending cases are expected to be heard by five panels, said Qureshi M Aftab, president of BMMCBA.

A Loknyayalay was held at Girgaon court on February 21 in which about 229 cases were heard and over 50 per cent of the cases resolved by the five panels, each consisting of senior advocates and senior citizens.

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The second Loknyayalay was held at Mazgaon court on February 22 in which over 200 cases were heard and around 50 per cent were resolved. M N Gilani, CMM at Esplanade Court, said that the number of casesdisposed off in a single day at Loknyayalays would have taken one year for a judge in a regular court.

Senior advocate and a Loknyayalay panel member Virendra Parikh said that most of the cases related to dishonoring of cheques, assaults, copyright violation, traffic offences, criminal intimidation, defamation, criminal breach of trust and other petty cases. He lamented that cases were filed even for petty incidents which should be ignored by an educated and responsible person.

“Once the case is filed, it becomes a prestige issue for both the complainant and the defendant. They ignore their work, family and other important things of their life and spend time and money visiting court for years,” he said.

Parikh told that unlike a regular court the Loknyayalay not only disposes off the case but it also removes bitterness between the parties.

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Last week while inaugurating the Loknyayalay at Mazgaon, Justice A C Agrawal admitted that the backlog of cases in metropolitan courts is alarming.