Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has expressed serious concern over the years-long pendency of final reports submitted by police in criminal cases.The court observed that keeping final reports pending even after completion of investigation is a matter of concern for the criminal justice system. “It causes unnecessary hardship to accused persons against whom police have submitted final reports after completing the investigation,” the court said. The matter has been listed for next hearing on Aug 20.A bench of Justice Tej Pratap Tiwari, while hearing a matter, has sought reports from all district and sessions judges regarding the status of pending final reports in their respective districts. The HC has directed that the reports be submitted through the registrar general of the court. The bench directed the district judges to regularly review the pending final reports in subordinate courts and ensure that old matters are disposed of on priority.The court has sought details regarding the number of pending final reports, reasons for their pendency and the action plan prepared for their early disposal. The HC observed that nearly 50,000 final reports are awaiting disposal in the Lucknow district courts alone. The situation is similar in other districts of the state as well. The court remarked that due to delays in preliminary procedures such as issuing notices to complainants, final reports remain pending for years, causing hardship to the accused persons.The matter relates to a case registered at Gosainganj police station in which the police had submitted a final report on July 11, 2020, but no order has been passed on it till date. Filing the petition, the petitioners informed the court that they are businessmen and frequently travel abroad. Due to the pendency of the case, they are facing difficulties in renewal of their passports.
