Speaking in the Legislative Council, Patil blamed the lack of coordination between prosecution and police for this.
The senior Minister from NCP said that from now on, cases would be filed only after sufficient evidence was gathered. "Many times we see that cases are filed in the court without sufficient evidence. (Henceforth) Only after gathering the evidence cases should be filed, which will also result in fewer cases going to the courts," Patil said in the Upper House during the Question Hour.
Congress's Mohan Joshi had raised the issue.
Besides, the Minister said the government was "trying to implement the Sankhe committee report within three months, which lays emphasis on better coordination between police and prosecution."
A committee appointed by the state government had studied how other states achieved a high conviction rate, and how it could be emulated here, Patil said, assuring an improvement.
According to the figures given by the Minister, the conviction rate was 33 per cent in 1993, 34.5 per cent in 1994, 18 per cent in 1997 and thereon it plunged, to 12, 11 and 9 per cent in the following years, to 8.2 per cent in 2011-12.