Jharkhand High Court

Ranchi, July 28: Kamini Devi, who lost her husband in 2005, had applied for a job on compassionate grounds from her husband’s employer Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), which kept her application pending. The widow ran from pillar to post but to no avail.

Left with no alternative, Kamini was forced to move Jharkhand High Court.

However, despite all attempts by her counsel, her petition was not taken up due to the large number of pending cases. Today, Kamini was one of the lucky 40 whose cases were heard and disposed by Jharkhand High Court in a mega adalat organised for women, members of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, disabled persons, children and senior citizens.

The high court directed the CCL authorities to consider her application and take a decision.

The brainchild of acting Chief Justice Prakash Tatia, the adalat was conceived to dispose of those cases on priority, which had been filed by people belonging to the special categories.

Joint registrar for list and computers A.R. Mishra said the mega adalat was a huge success and had benefited many.

A retired Ranchi University employee, D.N. Tiwary, had also filed a petition before the high court for payment of his legitimate dues and arrears of pay revision, which were not cleared by the university.

“The adalat today asked the university to clear his dues within a fixed deadline,” said Tiwary’s counsel Arvind Kumar.

As many as 450 cases, civil, criminal, writs and service matters, were listed today. However, the judges could dispose of only 40 at the end of the day.

“The remaining cases will be listed in the forthcoming mega adalat, which will be organised soon,” Mishra said.

State bar council chairman P.C. Tripathy said this was a noble effort on the part of the high court.

“Judges are here to hear matters and decide them. The legal event becomes significant because it adheres to a special category of persons who are not well placed in terms of money and connections,” he said.

Advocate Vijay Dubey said despite several attempts to get the cases listed, it was not possible to dispose of all matters. “With the mega adalat in session now, several cases which were pending for a long time are being taken up without any extra effort. The litigants are also satisfied with the new concept,” he said.