Hyderabad: The apathy of the AP and Telangana governments and Central agencies has forced people to approach the High Court at Hyderabad for redressal of minor grievances.
These range from the police not registering a complaint, officials not taking action against illegal constructions, civic authorities delay in providing water, power and sewerage connections, non-issue of Pattadar passbooks and ration cards and the refusal of the authorities to register landed properties.
As many as 28,000 writ petitions were filed in the high court from January 1 to August 20 this year, against both the state governments and the Centre, burdening the already overloaded judiciary.
According to legal experts, a majority of the writs related to issues which can be resolved rationally. People are forced to approach courts as the system is not responsive enough. This is clogging the court channels with cases, leading to delay in disposal of even small issues.
The Law Commission, in its reports submitted separately while recommending the need for a national litigation policy, alternative dispute resolution system, has pointed out that though there was much of avoidable litigation by the state, the administrative authorities compelled citizens to litigate as a “matter of prestige”.
Infographic
Mr N. Sreedhar Reddy, former special government pleader, told this newspaper the High Court, as a writ court, was the last resort, not the first, for an individual seeking redressal of grievances.
“The majority of writs relate to revenue and civic matters. The orders passed by revenue authorities are quasi-judicial. The high court cannot pass an ex-parte order against a quasi-judicial order without a counter affidavit being filed or proper instructions issued from the authority concerned,” he said.
There is an appellate mechanism with regard to matters such as of ration cards, Pattadar passbooks, refusal to enter details of individual properties in land records and settlement of compensation of land acquisitions.
But no remedy was available in cases where civic authorities failed to take action on complaints of illegal construction. The aggrieved party has to invariably approach a court. Mr Reddy said that in a majority of cases either the instructions or the counter affidavits did not reach the court in time.
Once the court adjourned the case, it would be difficult to list it again as the high court faced manpower shortage. An advocate working as a government pleader in the high court said though it was a simple matter, say, of not granting a ration card, it would take considerable time for case disposal as there exists a standard judicial procedure to the dispose of cases.
“We have to face wrath of the bench whenever officers delay passing on information to us. It would not be possible for the bench to dispose of the case until we provide the relevant facts. Most of the cases are delayed for lack of proper instructions from officers.”
