LUCKNOW, Feb. 2 -- Observing that the judiciary is "starved" of resources to cope with an ever-growing explosion of litigations, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has quashed criminal proceedings pending for over 34 years in connection with an alleged ruckus on the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha premises.

The court termed the continuation of such stale trials a "futile exercise" and called upon the state government to "chop off the deadwood" by weeding out futile litigations pending in various courts across the state.

Justice Pankaj Bhatia passed the judgement on January 28 allowing the two separate petitions filed by Madhukar Sharma and Sanjay Singh, who sought directives to quash entire criminal proceedings arising out of the ...