Delhi High Court dismisses PIL seeking timely disposal of cases before District Courts

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking directions to Delhi District courts for timely and expeditious disposal of cases and also seeking directions to police authorities to carry out preliminary enquiry within a fixed time frame.

A Bench of Chief justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela refused to entertain the PIL, observing that since every case has its own facts and circumstances which require the judiciary to apply its mind, there cannot be a fixed time frame for disposing of matters.

“In India there is 1 judge per 10 lakhs people. Every judge is doing his best...Matters are decided by human being and not robots. Some applications under section 156(3) CrPC [seeking Magistrate’s order to direct police investigation] are frivolous, they may not be genuine. So there can be no fixed time frame,” Chief Justice Manmohan remarked.

The Court further noted that a legal remedy is already available to applicants aggrieved by delay in disposal. 

“If a person is aggrieved by inordinate delay in disposal of Section 156(3) applications, they have the liberty to approach a superior bench, and so no genuine directions are called for,” the Court said.

The PIL cited an incident where a complaint alleging outraging of modesty was not investigated by the police.

The prosecutrix approached Tis Hazari Court under Section 156(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code but the matter was frequently adjourned, it was pointed out.

The petitioner, advocate Vivek Kumar Gaurav, submitted that due to delay in disposal of matters, evidence may get destroyed.

The petitioner highlighted that the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita is bereft of any provision towards expeditious disposal of applications seeking registration of FIR.

"The inordinate delay in adjudication for applications before the concerned Magistrates for registration of FIR, renders the remedy as ineffective as many a times due to lapse of time, the Electronic and scientific evidence like CCTV Footage of the cameras installed by the state, and DNA/Forensic evidence like nail scrapings, blood stains get diminished resulting in ineffective Investigation, thereby rendering the said remedy to be infructuous,” the petition filed through advocate Rohit Shukla said.