Guwahati, Apr 4 (IANS): Over 4.5 lakhs cases are still pending in various courts in Assam, state Law Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass said, adding that the state government is pursuing various measures to resolve them.

Dass made the statement in the Assembly on Tuesday while responding to a query by BJP MLA Chakradhar Gogoi.

According to the minister, overall 4,58,059 cases are pending various courts in Assam. Of them, Kamrup Metropolitan district has the most pending cases (1,06,850), followed by Nagaon and Dhubri districts with 31,101 and 30,385 pending cases respectively.

"With the exception of charges filed for egregious and violent offences, the state administration has decided to withdraw almost one lakh criminal cases where the maximum sentence is three years in prison or a fine, or both," Dass added.

He claimed that the decision will help the courts to focus on serious offences and other matters.

"Assam State Legal Services Authority (ASLSA) placed a strong emphasis on increasing the number of dispositions in both pre-litigation and pending cases through lok adalats...," Dass asserted.