Goa’s district courts are reeling under a backlog of 8,139 pending cases even as one-third of all sanctioned District Judge posts in the State remain vacant, according to data tabled in the Goa Legislative Assembly by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in response to a starred question raised by Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco. Of the 15 sanctioned posts of District Judges across North and South Goa, five posts are lying vacant. Three of the judicial officers are deployed on deputation to quasi-judicial authorities under the State Government, further whittling down the effective strength to nine. The three judicial officers on deputation are Sharmila Patil, deputed to the Goa Ad ministrative Tribunal since June 2025; Vijayalaxmi Shi volkar, deputed to the Indus trial Tribunal cum Labour Court since June 2024; and Saee Prabhudessai, deputed to the Children’s Court since September 2024. All three belong to the District and Additional Sessions Judge cadre. The court-wise penden cy data paints an equally grim picture.
Across the 14 district courts in the State, a total of 4,195 civil cases, 2,731 criminal cases, and 1,213 cases under special Acts are pending. The high est civil case load is at the Ad-hoc District Judge-1 and Additional Sessions Judge (FTC) at Mapusa, which has 701 civil cases pending. The Principal District and Ses sions Court at Margao car ries 597 civil cases, while the Principal District and Sessions Court at Merces has 465 civil cases pending. On the criminal side, the District Judge-2 and Addi tional Sessions Judge Court at Mapusa tops the list with 401 criminal cases, followed by the Principal District and Sessions Court at Merces with 302 cases.
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The Fast Track Special Court at Merces for POCSO offences has 168 criminal cases and 165 cases under special Acts pending. While the Chief Minister confirmed the proposal to fill the vacant post in the Ad ministrative Tribunal in re sponse to a recommendation from the High Court, there was however no proposal re ceived to recommend for the Industrial Tribunal. On the question of wheth er filling the vacancies and releasing the deputed judi cial officers would expedite disposal of the backlog and ease the plight of litigants, the Government replied that “Disposal of cases is in the domain of the Judiciary,” adding that the Govern ment’s role was confined to providing infrastructure, and appointing new judges and staff required for func tioning of a particular court.
