Yathiraju By

BENGALURU: THIS is something Karnataka cannot crow about. According to statistics from the National Judicial Data Grid, Karnataka is the most litigant state in South India.

Similarly, Bengaluru follows in terms of highest number of pending cases in the capital cities in comparision with the three other south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

There’s is a silver lining though. The rate of disposal of cases in Karnataka is much higher compared to the other states, if one takes into account the number of cases filed in a month.

Karnataka tops in South India with a total of 12.33 lakh pending cases. These include 6.14 lakh civil and 6.18 criminal cases. Tamil Nadu stands second with 9.10 lakh pending cases, including 5.65 lakh civil and 3.44 lakh criminal cases.

In Kerala, 8.67 lakh cases are pending, which includes 3.09 lakh civil and 5.57 lakh criminal cases. After Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, the total number of pending cases in Andhra Pradesh is 4.25 lakh (2.34 lakh civil and 1.91 lakh criminal).

Among the capital cities of the four states, Bengaluru is the most litigant city with 2.29 lakh civil and criminal cases.

Thiruvananthapuram stands second with 1.47 lakh cases whereas Hyderabad, with 88,000 cases, and Chennai, with 71,000 cases, take the third and fourth spots, respectively.

Explaining the reasons for the rise in number cases in the state of Karnataka, senior counsel M T Nanaiah blamed the repeated amendments to rules and Acts related to land issues.

A lion’s share of the cases are related to land survey and issue of title deeds in which the government is a litigant.

He added that other reasons for increase in litigation is forgery of land records, as the land price is high.

As far as criminal cases in Bengaluru are concerned, Nanaiah said that floating population in areas like HAL and IT-BT areas like Madivala, Whitefield, Electronics City contribute to litigation.

Nanaiah also said that the shortage of policemen is leading to increase in crimes.

“Misuse of Acts related to domestic violence and dowry harassment and family disputes also contribute to the high number of cases. Apart from this, political crimes, and children being pushed into the world of crime like bank robberies, dacoities, etc, add to it,” Nanaiah said. Retired Deputy Commissioner of Police V S D’Souza also acknowledged that crimes have increased in Bengaluru. But he reckons that the reasons for this are different.

“Some rural pockets were also added to Bengaluru as they city grew. The population has crossed one crore and no other city has seen such growth. Crimes are higher where there are migrant populations working and settled,” he said.