Gujarat HC To Hear 10+ Yr Old Criminal Appeals On Working Saturdays; 5600+ Cases From 1995-2014 Lined Up For Disposal
In a bid to tackle the backlog of decade-old criminal appeals, the Gujarat High Court has constituted Special Benches to hear such matters on working Saturdays. The arrangement, starting today, will continue at least till October 2025. According to an official notification issued in this regard by the Registrar (Judicial), a total of 12 benches (including 9 division benches)...
In a bid to tackle the backlog of decade-old criminal appeals, the Gujarat High Court has constituted Special Benches to hear such matters on working Saturdays. The arrangement, starting today, will continue at least till October 2025.
According to an official notification issued in this regard by the Registrar (Judicial), a total of 12 benches (including 9 division benches) will specifically take up criminal acquittal appeals pending for over 10 years, as well as those where convicts have remained in Jail for more than a decade.
As per the official statement, a total of 5,627 criminal acquittal appeals, filed between 1995 and 2014, are still pending. These include both division bench and single judge bench matters, with the bulk of the pendency arising from the years 2003 to 2013.
Importantly, the notification further states that only notified criminal appeals will be taken up and such matters may be preponed or postponed from their original dates for listing on Saturday.
This move comes after the HC has already earmarked Wednesdays to hear only old pending cases.