Convicted by a Kanpur Sessions Court of killing his own brother, Vijay Singh remained on bail for more than four decades as the Allahabad High Court took almost 43 years to adjudicate on his appeal challenging his conviction.Vijay — who was a 28-year-old man when he shot dead his brother in November 1983 – is now a septuagenarian – thanks to the snail-paced justice delivery system.Describing the extraordinary delay in disposing of his criminal appeal as a “disturbing situation”, the Supreme Court on Monday wondered what innovative measures could be adopted to address the mounting pendency clogging the justice delivery system in the Allahabad High Court.Vijay spent only about three months in custody and remained on bail for almost 43 years as he awaited the outcome of his appeal, the Bench noted as it decided to allow him to continue to be on bail during the pendency of his petition challenging the high court’s February 9 judgment dismissing his appeal against conviction.Flagging that litigants often move the top court seeking directions for expeditious hearings before the Allahabad High Court, a Bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice AS Chandurkar sought suggestions from senior advocate Siddharth Dave and advocate Zoheb Hossain on steps to accelerate disposal of old cases.Ad Dave suggested that prosecution appeals pending for more than three decades could be dismissed to reduce the backlog, the Bench said fundamental principles of adjudication did not permit dismissal of cases solely on account of prolonged pendency and cautioned that such an approach could adversely affect public interest and deprive parties of an opportunity to present their cases.Highlighting the prolonged delay, Vijay submitted in his appeal before the Supreme Court that he was now 72, having spent most of his life under the shadow of a criminal conviction.”For over four decades, through youth, middle age, and now old age, he has lived under the shadow of that conviction,” he said in his petition.Vijay pointed out that his criminal appeal languished before the high court for 40 years before being finally heard and dismissed.