Cuttack: Orissa High Court is apparently facing a no-win situation over backlog because of the dismal rate of case disposal in the face of its mounting number.

Official records stated that the number of pending cases was 1,69,444 on February 12 and 1,70,450 on February 19.

On top of it, there is added piling up of cases every week since disposal of cases is falling far behind the number of cases filed.

Justice A.S. Naidu, a retired high court judge, on Wednesday said the situation could be tackled only after the sanctioned number of judges was provided.

"The number of cases pending before Orissa High Court has increased by and large because of the absence of sanctioned judges for years. Consequently, the number of cases instituted in a week far exceeds the number of cases disposed," he said.

At present, the high court has 41 per cent judicial vacancy (16 judges working against a sanctioned strength of 27). With the disposal of cases limited to not more than 100 on an average in a week against the filing up of 800 to 1,000 cases, about 700 to 900 cases are reportedly accumulating as pending cases every week.

Former state bar council chairman Manas Ranjan Mohapatra on Wednesday said it was not just simple statistics.

"The court orders are not being complied with by the government - both in filing responses or replying to notices and also in order implementation. This is proving to be a bane," Mohapatra said.

"In a large majority of the cases, adjudication is held-up as replies are not filed in time or inordinately delayed. Non-implementation of court orders was also resulting in filing of thousands of applications for contempt," he said.

"Besides, the filing of special leave petitions in the Supreme Court - even when there is no infirmity in the high court orders - just to delay implantation is also resulting in pendency of cases of contempt for years," he said.

With the number of pending cases and new cases being registered every day, it is turning into a vicious circle. Social activist and lawyer Chittaranjan Mohanty said: "At this rate, litigants have to wait for years together to even get a hearing. The result is disillusionment among the people over the judiciary."

Peeved over the inaction in appointment of judges to fill up vacancies in the court, the Orissa High Court Bar Association - after launching a cease work on February 12 - now intensified the agitation by starting an indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday.