More than 38,000 cases in the Orissa High Court have remained pending for judgment pronouncement for over a decade, while 7,035 cases pending before the court were filed over 20 years ago, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
File Photo: IANS
More than 38,000 cases in the Orissa High Court have remained pending for judgment pronouncement for over a decade, while 7,035 cases pending before the court were filed over 20 years ago, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
The High Court is currently burdened with 1,69,320 pending cases, of which 1,31,359 have been pending for more than one year, Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply to a question by Rajya Sabha MP Dilip Kumar Ray.
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The data highlights the mounting backlog before the High Court even as the judiciary continues efforts to improve case management and digitise court functioning.
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Responding to a separate question by Rajya Sabha MP Debashish Samantaray, Meghwal said the e-Courts Project is being implemented across Odisha under the guidance of the Orissa High Court to modernise judicial administration in district and subordinate courts.
Under Phase III of the project, 817 of the state’s 845 courts and 203 of 215 court complexes have been equipped with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) hardware to facilitate computerisation.
The digitisation drive has also made significant progress. As of June 30, 2026, around 42.96 lakh legacy case records, comprising 24.17 crore pages, had been digitised across the Orissa High Court and district courts.
According to the Minister, 18 courts in the High Court and 343 district judiciary courts are now functioning in a paperless mode using PDF-based tools, enabling digital access to case records and court proceedings.
All 30 district court websites in Odisha have been migrated to the S3WAAS platform, while 320 court establishments have been upgraded from the Case Information System (CIS) 3.0 to CIS 4.0.
The Minister further informed that since January 1, 2026, the CIS has integrated data relating to 3.10 lakh First Information Reports (FIRs) and 2.29 lakh charge sheets through the Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) platform.
The e-Filing 3.0 system has also been rolled out across all courts in the state, with 1.31 lakh cases filed electronically till March 30, 2026. Additionally, video conferencing facilities have been enabled in all courts, facilitating 7.61 lakh virtual hearings up to June 30, 2026.
To improve access to justice, particularly in remote areas, 184 eSewa Kendras have also been established across Odisha, the Minister said.
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