Data on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) provided by the union of India in Parliament on February 1, 2023 reveals that while 69,768 are currently pending in the Supreme Court, over 53,00,000 cases await adjudication in the high courts; of these 3642 such cases date back to the period 1970-79 while 2979 such cases are pending in District Courts. he state-wise data for High Courts is as follows:
As can be seen in the table below, there was an increase in the number of cases pending in the Supreme Court during the period of 2020-2021 as they went from 65086 in 2020 to 70237 in 2021, while there has been a decrease in the same, as the pending cases went down to 69768 in the year 2022. This is in all likelihood because of the paralysis in the justice delivery system during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Figures related to the Supreme Court:
The state-wise data for High Courts is as follows:
As can be deduced from the table above, highest number of pending cases from 1970s can be found in the Calcutta High Court, which are 2400 in number. The second highest is Allahabad High Court, with 740 such cases and the third highest is the Patna High Court, with 394 such cases.
High Court:
As can be seen from the table above, there was an increase in the number of cases pending in the High Court during the 2020-2021 period as they went from 4966965 in 2020 to 5307847 in 2021. Again this is likely because of the closure of the system during the Covid-19 pandemic. There was a further increase in the same, as the pending cases went up to 5351284 in the year 2022. In the year 2022, the Allahabad High Court has 1030538 cases pending, highest in the country. After that, Punjab and Haryana High Court has the second highest number of pending cases, amounting to 590071, while the Patna High Court has the third highest number of pending cases, amounting to 444370.
It was on February 3, 2023, during the ongoing special Budget Session of the Parliament, Lok Sabha members Ms. Chandrani Murmu (BJD), Shri Gnanathiraviam S. (DMK), Shri Anumula Revanth Reddy (INC), Shri Naranbhai Kachhadiya (BJP), Shri Arun Kumar Sagar (BJP), Shri M.K. Raghavan (INC), Shri Rajendra Dhedya Gavit (Shiv Sena), Shri Ashok Mahadeorao Nete (BJP), Shri Adala Prabhakara Reddy (YSR Congress), Shri Ashok Kumar Rawat (BJP), and Shri KothaPrabhakar Reddy (TRS) all raised questions on the pendency of cases in the courts of India. The members first asked for the number of cases, including civil and criminal, that are still pending in the Supreme Court, High Courts and Lower Courts, dating back to 1970s along with the reasons for the same.
Kiren Rijiju, the Minister of the Law and justice, responded to the said question by informing the Lok Sabha that as per data retrieved from the Integrated Case Management Information System (ICMIS), there are no pending cases in Supreme Court of India for more than 42 years., but this was not the same in the case of the High Courts and the District and Subordinate Courts.
The state-wise data for District Courts and Subordinate Courts supplies to Parliament by the union of India is as follows:
As can be analysed from the table above, the highest number of pending cases from 1970s can be found in the Uttar Pradesh, which are 1963 in number. The second highest is Bihar Court, with 417 such cases and the third highest is the state of West Bengal, with 301 such cases.
Addressing concerns regarding the exponential increase in the pendency of cases in the courts during the last three years, the minister provided that on an average, based on the data available with the Department, the pendency of cases in the various courts of the country have increased in the last three years i.e. 2020, 2021 and 2022, the details of which are as follows:
District Court:
The tables above show that there was an exponential increase in the number of cases pending in the District and Subordinate Courts during the 2019-2021 period as they went 32,29,6224 in 2019 to 37,28,5742 in 2020 and 41,05,3498 in 2021. There was a further increase in the same, as the pending cases went up to 42,82,6777 in the year 2022. In the year 2022, the Uttar Pradesh courts have 10,64,1073 cases pending, highest in the country. After that, Maharashtra Courts have the second highest number of pending cases, amounting to 49,19254.
The Minister then responds on the issue of remedial measures being put in place to tackle with the increasing number of pending cases in the various courts. The minister provided thatas far as the Supreme Court of India is concerned, consistent efforts are being made to list maximum number of cases as far as possible. He further provided that during the COVID-19 pandemic hearing of cases was done through the video conferencing mode.
The Supreme Court had 3,79,954 hearing through video conferencing since the lockdown upto December 24, 2022. In furtherance of reducing pendency, it was directed to list 10 Transfer Petitions and 10 Bail Matters before each Hon’ble Court on all the five days of the week. Besides this in order to accelerate the listing of fresh as well as other miscellaneous matter, Tuesday of the week has also been fixed for listing such matters. In order to clear the backlog of pending fresh cases, miscellaneous weeks are being declared from time to time so that maximum number of cases can be listed.
Special Benches have also been constituted to dispose of old cases relating to Compensation, Direct & Indirect taxes, service and Criminal Cases. On Regular hearing days, old regular hearing matters are being listed before these courts. Multi-pronged efforts are being made to reduce pendency of cases in the near future. Similarly, he provided that efforts are also being made to decrease the number of pending cases in the High Courts and District & Subordinate Courts.
The minister also provided that with the aim of strengthening the judicial system in States, Fast Track Courts have been established for cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc. The minister further provided that on December 31, 2022, 848 Fast Track Courts were functional for heinous crimes, crimes against women, and children etc.
Further, the union government has approved a scheme for setting up 1023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) across the country for the expeditious disposal of pending cases of Rape under IPC and crimes under POCSO Act. As on date, 28 States/UTs have joined the scheme. Rs.140 crore was released in the financial year 2019-20, Rs. 160 crore has been released during the financial year 2020-21 and Rs. 134.557 crore has been released during the financial year 2021-22 for the scheme Rs. 186.93 crore has been released during currant FY upto December, 2022. 768 FTSC are functional including 418 exclusive POCSO Courts, which disposed more than 1,37,000 cases as on December 31, 2022.
The complete answer can be read here.
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