Bhubaneswar, Aug 18 (IANS): Around 13 lakh cases are pending in different courts in Odisha, including over 1.7 lakh cases in the state high court, a state minister said on Tuesday.

As many as 12,95,881 cases are pending in the courts and tribunals of Odisha, state Law Minister Arun Sahu said in a written reply in the state assembly.

A total of 1,70,597 cases - including 1,34,510 civil and 36,087 criminal - are pending in the Odisha high court, the minister added.

Sahu said 11,16,305 cases, including 2,56,724 civil and 8,59,581 criminal cases, are pending in the lower courts.

Besides, 8,979 cases are pending in various tribunals of the state.

However, he said, the state government had no information about the pending cases of the state in the Supreme Court and was in the process of collecting relevant information.

Talking to media, Ray said it was unfortunate that while the Odisha government was spending crores of rupees in the Supreme Court, it had no information about the pending cases.

He said the Navin Patnaik government had given the same answer during the last assembly session when asked about the cases pending in the Supreme Court.

The BJP MLA blamed the state government for lower conviction rate against the national average.