The Ministry of Law and Justice has released data of the latest pendency of cases in the Supreme Court and the High Courts. The data shows that nearly 48,418 civil cases are pending in the Supreme Court of which 1,132 cases are pending for more than 10 years. In the High Courts, 31,16,492 civil cases are pending of which more than 5,89,631 cases are pending for more than 10 years. A large number of criminal cases are also pending in all Courts. The number of criminal cases pending in the High Courts for more than 10 years is 187,999. It is stated that the Chief Justices’ Conference has resolved that each High Court shall establish an Arrears Committee to clear the backlog of cases pending for more than five years
Pending Court Cases
Data on pendency of cases is maintained by the Supreme Court and High Courts. As per the information made available by the Supreme Court of India, details of civil and criminal cases pending in the Supreme Court of India; and civil and criminal cases pending for more than 10 years in the Supreme Court of India; and number of cases disposed of by the Supreme Court of India during the last three years and the current year are as under:-
| Number of Pending Cases as on 19.02.2016 | Number of Cases pending for more than 10 years up to 19.02.2016. | Number of Cases disposed during last three years and current year upto 19.02.2016 | |||||
| Civil | Criminal | Civil | Criminal | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
| 48,418 | 11,050 | 1,132 | 84 | 40,189 | 45,042 | 47,424 | 6,054 |
As per information made available by High Courts, details of pending cases in High Courts and District and Subordinate Courts are as under:-
| Number of Pending Cases in High Courts as on 31.12.2014 | Number of Cases pending for more than 10 years in High Courts as on 31.12.2014 | Number of Pending Cases in District and Subordinate Courts as on 31.12.2014 | Number of Cases pending for more than 10 years in District and Subordinate Courts as on 31.12.2014 | ||||
| Civil | Criminal | Civil | Criminal | Civil | Criminal | Civil | Criminal |
| 3116492 | 1037465 | 589631 | 187999 | 8234281 | 18254124 | 611658 | 1432079 |
The details of cases disposed of during 2012, 2013 and 2014 by the High Courts and District / Subordinate Courts are given in the Statements at Annexure – I and Annexure – II respectively.
Some of the main factors responsible for pendency of cases in courts are increasing number of state and central legislations, accumulation of first appeals, continuation of ordinary civil jurisdiction in some of the High Courts, vacancies of Judges, appeals against orders of quasi-judicial forums going to High Courts, number of revisions / appeals, frequent adjournments, indiscriminate use of writ jurisdiction, lack of adequate arrangement to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing.
The Chief Justices’ Conference held on 03rd and 04th April 2015 has resolved that each High Court shall establish an Arrears Committee to clear the backlog of cases pending for more than five years. As per information available, Arrears Committees have been set up in the High Courts of (i) Allahabad, (ii) Bombay, (iii) Calcutta, (iv) Chhattisgarh, (v) Delhi, (vi) Himachal Pradesh, (vii) Jammu & Kashmir, (viii) Jharkhand, (ix) Kerala, (x) Madhya Pradesh, (xi) Madras, (xii) Manipur, (xiii) Meghalaya, (xiv) Orissa, (xv) Patna (xvi) Punjab & Haryana, (xvii) Sikkim, (xviii) Tripura, and (xix) Uttrakhand.
Annexure-I
Pending Court Cases.
Cases disposed of in High Courts during last three years
| Sl. No | High Court | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| Disposal of cases | Disposal of cases | Disposal of cases | ||
| 1 | Allahabad | 2,47,539 | 2,36,821 | 3,10,294 |
| 2 | Andhra Pradesh | 66,130 | 58,278 | 66,239 |
| 3 | Bombay | 1,74,020 | 1,40,761 | 1,30,580 |
| 4 | Calcutta | 78,428 | 1,34,938 | 95,656 |
| 5 | Delhi | 35,656 | 35,371 | 40,154 |
| 6 | Gujarat | 63,778 | 64,450 | 74,444 |
| 7 | Gauhati | 35,713 | 30,308 | 27,467 |
| 8 | Himachal Pradesh | 37,772 | 36,455 | 62,270 |
| 9 | Jammu &Kashmir | 16,380 | 24,916 | 23,151 |
| 10 | Karnataka | 1,21,624 | 1,28,134 | 1,19,824 |
| 11 | Kerala | 78,801 | 68,871 | 72,173 |
| 12 | Madras | 2,46,200 | 2,31,817 | 1,29,954 |
| 13 | Madhya Pradesh | 1,00,281 | 1,11,348 | 1,29,373 |
| 14 | Orissa | 81,388 | 70,262 | 76,523 |
| 15 | Patna | 91,328 | 82,343 | 1,04,955 |
| 16 | Punjab & Haryana | 1,08,266 | 1,11,465 | 1,14,801 |
| 17 | Rajasthan | 1,31,277 | 1,27,928 | 83,792 |
| 18 | Sikkim | 126 | 140 | 230 |
| 19 | Uttarakhand | 13,616 | 15,661 | 13,386 |
| 20 | Chhattisgarh | 27,817 | 28,206 | 28,155 |
| 21 | Jharkhand | 30,030 | 25,970 | 22,327 |
| 22 | Tripura* | 0 | 4,379 | 5,144 |
| 23 | Manipur* | 0 | 2,677 | 1,926 |
| 24 | Meghalaya* | 0 | 1,418 | 1,724 |
| Total | 17,86,170 | 17,72,917 | 17,34,542 | |
*Operationalisation of High Court was notified on 23rd March, 2013.
Annexure-II
Pending Court Cases.
Cases disposed of in District and Subordinate Courts during last three years
| Sl. No | States | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| Disposal of cases | Disposal of cases | Disposal of cases | ||
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh and Telangana | 6,06,447 | 5,14,867 | 6,47,130 |
| 2 | Arunachal Pradesh | 7,355 | 7,444 | 7,615 |
| 3 | Assam | 2,39,706 | 3,14,672 | 2,76,138 |
| 4 | Bihar | 3,04,786 | 3,15,586 | 3,05,583 |
| 5 | Chhattisgarh | 1,62,104 | 1,79,065 | 1,76,144 |
| 6 | Goa | 33,886 | 30,717 | 30,625 |
| 7 | Gujarat | 10,72,123 | 11,37,159 | 11,32,433 |
| 8 | Haryana | 7,33,591 | 6,08,315 | 5,87,385 |
| 9 | Himachal Pradesh | 2,46,052 | 2,93,575 | 4,09,732 |
| 10 | Jammu & Kashmir | 2,91,100 | 3,07,192 | 2,97,507 |
| 11 | Jharkhand | 1,23,777 | 1,18,076 | 1,10,068 |
| 12 | Karnataka | 10,35,706 | 10,17,437 | 13,67,041 |
| 13 | Kerala | 11,12,342 | 11,71,821 | 13,55,926 |
| 14 | Madhya Pradesh | 12,17,733 | 12,73,437 | 11,13,382 |
| 15 | Maharashtra | 20,48,255 | 17,10,180 | 15,36,322 |
| 16 | Manipur | 14,572 | 16,189 | 14,257 |
| 17 | Meghalaya | 2,982 | 3,284 | 11,691 |
| 18 | Mizoram | 11,747 | 10,270 | 10,747 |
| 19 | Nagaland | 3,179 | 3,062 | 3,047 |
| 20 | Orissa | 3,00,337 | 4,14,772 | 4,70,085 |
| 21 | Punjab | 7,58,927 | 6,11,671 | 5,49,300 |
| 22 | Rajasthan | 11,50,808 | 11,99,745 | 11,32,028 |
| 23 | Sikkim | 1,913 | 2,146 | 2,008 |
| 24 | Tamil Nadu | 14,99,884 | 18,44,056 | 16,45,329 |
| 25 | Tripura | 1,48,688 | 1,58,838 | 1,93,003 |
| 26 | Uttar Pradesh | 27,98,690 | 29,66,521 | 31,82,318 |
| 27 | Uttarakhand | 1,78,409 | 2,22,318 | 2,20,660 |
| 28 | West Bengal and A & N Island | 9,92,367 | 11,84,289 | 10,89,309 |
| 29 | Chandigarh | 1,38,558 | 1,53,772 | 1,80,616 |
| 30 | D & N Haveli and Daman & Diu | 8,451 | 3,344 | 2,771 |
| 31 | Delhi | 9,18,683 | 9,57,154 | 9,30,732 |
| 32 | Lakshadweep | 96 | 93 | 95 |
| 33 | Pondicherry | 33,899 | 32,479 | 28,631 |
| Total | 1,81,97,153 | 1,87,83,546 | 1,90,19,658 |
Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)
The pendency of court cases is alarming. Most of the times it takes 15-20 years to get a verdict which is cause of depression and dejection for the right person. Its unfortunate that for years justice remains eluded to the justice seekers. There are primarily two reasons. The prime reason,of course, is the inability of the government to fill the vacant posts of judges as per the sanctioned strength. The percentage of judges is far less than justice seekers pro-rate. Second major reason is the bad legislation that leaves gaping holes in the acts and rules. Left intentionally or unintentionally ,certain ambiguities are cleared at the highest level only by the best brains. Justice delayed, its rightly said, is justice denied.