Report No. 14

19. High Court.-

The work done in the HIgh Court, since it came into existence in 1948, is shown in the following statement:

Statement Showing The Institution and Disposal of Proceeding in The Court of Orissa During The Year 1948-1956

		1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956
No. of Judges	..	4	4	4	3	4	4	5	4	4
First Appeals against decrees	I	62	108	74	89	78	59	31	49	68
	D	33	55	55	41	31	62	81	69	34
	P	168	221	240	288	335	313	263	243	277
Second Appeals against decrees	I	568	536	709	575	474	339	314	296	335
	D	264	551	455	301	204	350	867	901	386
	P	1120	1105	1359	1633	1903	1892	1339	734	683
Appeals against orders	I	94	93	75	114	84	86	78	87	103
	D	70	72	60	114	109	99	132	80	60
	P	150	171	186	186	161	148	94	103	146
Letters Patent Appeals	I	4	6	10	1	2	2	4	7	4
	D	..	3	..	2	8	9	1	9	1
	P	4	7	17	16	10	3	6	4	7
Civil Revisions (Including Small Cause Revisions).	I	288	370	317	295	255	215	213	268	284
	D	178	318	340	248	322	291	254	229	216
	P	233	285	262	309	242	166	125	164	232
Criminal Appeals	I	92	121	106	113	N.A.	132	208	174	205
	D	66	128	80	81	N.A.	143	106	114	168
	P	41	34	60	92	101	90	192	252	289
Criminal Revisions	I	406	690	670	742	N.A.	480	424	361	283
	D	361	711	617	643	N.A.	647	448	334	280
	P	198	177	230	329	283	116	92	119	122
Writs	I	..	..	..	..	71	100	406	400	472
	D	..	....	..	..	81	92	100	173	582
	P	..	..	..	..	53	61	367	594	484

Note.- I=Institution-also include matters restored and otherwise received.

D = Disposal.

P = Pendency at the end of the year

N.A. = Not available.

20. This statement reveals, that the work of the High Court is very much in arrears. A large number of first appeals, second appeals, criminal appeals and writ matters are pending. On the basis of the average disposals for the last six years, 1951 to 1956, it may take the court over 5 years to dispose of the first appeals and about 21/2 years to dispose of the second appeals, criminal appeals and writ matters pending at the end of 1956. The average duration of a contested first appeal in 1955 was 1518 days i.e. 4.3 years and of contested second appeals was 1088 i.e. about 3 years. Even the criminal work in the High Court is somewhat in arrears. The following statement shows that there is great need for improvement in the state of the file of the High Court.