As per data available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), total 56,69,960 cases are pending in High Courts, out of which 40,83,266 are Civil cases and 15,86,694 are Criminal cases as on 05.02.2021. The details of cases pending for less than five years and more than five years and less than ten years and more than ten years in respect of High Courts is as under:-
High Court-wise details of pending cases for less than five years, for five to ten years and for more than ten years as on 05.02.2021 is given in a statement at Annexure.
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(c): Disposal of pending cases in courts is within the domain of the judiciary. Pendency of cases in courts depends on several factors which, inter-alia includes availability of adequate number of judges, supporting court staff and physical infrastructure, complexity of facts involved, nature of evidence, cooperation of stake holders viz. bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants and proper application of rules and procedures. No time frame has been prescribed for disposal of various kinds of cases by the respective courts. Government has no role in disposal of cases in courts. However, Central Government is fully committed to speedy disposal of cases in accordance with Article 21 of the Constitution and reducing pendency. The Government has taken several initiatives to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary. The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms established by the Government has adopted a coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration through various strategic initiatives, including improving infrastructure for courts, leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for better justice delivery, and filling up of vacant positions of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court. After announcement of nation- wide lockdown from 25th March, 2020, directions have been issued from time to time by the respective High Courts to the Subordinate Courts under their administrative jurisdiction for hearing of urgent civil and criminal matters in virtual or physical mode depending on local conditions. Most High Courts have further advised district and subordinate courts that where there is no shut down/lockdown, they may, as far as possible, resume normal functioning by virtual/physical mode and take up all kind of cases, including those pertaining to under-trial prisoners, trial of civil cases, matrimonial disputes, child custody matters, recording of evidence and other old matters. Wherever physical hearing has been permitted in district and subordinate courts, they have been advised to strictly adhere to Covid protocols and social distancing norms and take all precautions including consent of the parties. A new Software Patch and Court User Manual has been recently developed for COVID- 19 Management. This tool has been developed to help in smart scheduling all cases to effectively manage overcrowding in courts. As regards the Supreme Court, an overarching order has been issued by the Supreme Court on 06.04.2020 giving legal sanctity and validity to video conference hearing.
Video conferencing emerged as the mainstay of the Courts during the Covid lockdown period as physical hearings and normal court proceedings in the congregational mode were not possible. Since Covid lockdown started, the District courts heard 45,73,159 cases while the High Court heard 20,60,318 cases (totalling to 66.33 lakh) till 31.12.2020 using video conferencing only. The Supreme Court had 52,353 hearings since the lockdown period upto 31.01.2021.
The major steps taken during the last five years under various initiatives are as follows:
(i) Improving infrastructure for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts: As on date, Rs. 8,288.81 crores have been released since the inception of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in 1993-94. The number of court halls has increased from 15,818 as on 30.06.2014 to 20,248 as on 05.02.2021 and number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 17,942 as on 05.02.2021 under this scheme. In addition, 2,808 court halls and 1,843 residential units are under construction.
(ii) Leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for improved justice delivery: Government has been implementing the e-Courts Mission Mode Project throughout the country for Information and Communication Technology enablement of district and subordinate courts. Number of computerized District & Subordinate courts has increased from 13,672 (in 2014) to 18,735 as on 28.01.2021, registering an increase of 5,063. New and user-friendly version of Case Information Software has been developed and deployed at all the computerized District and Subordinate Courts. All stakeholders including Judicial Officers can access information relating to judicial proceedings/decisions of computerized District & Subordinate Courts and High Courts on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). As on 01.01.2021, litigants can access case status of over 17.90 crore cases and 13.36 crore order/judgements pertaining to these courts. eCourts services such as details of case registration, cause list, case status, daily orders & final judgments are available to litigants and advocates through eCourts web portal, Judicial Service Centres (JSC) in all computerized courts, eCourts Mobile App, email service, SMS push & pull services. Video Conferencing facility has been enabled between 3240 court complexes and 1272 corresponding jails. With a view to handle the COVID- 19 challenges better and to make the transition to virtual hearings smoother, funds have been provided for setting up 235 e- SewaKendras at court complexes to facilitate lawyers and litigants needing assistance ranging from case status, getting judgements/orders, court/case related information and efiling facilities. Rs. 5.01 crores has been allocated for providing equipment in Video Conferencing cabins in various court complexes to facilitate virtual hearings. Rs. 12.12 crores has been allocated for 1732 Help desk counters for efiling in various court complexes.
Nine Virtual Courts have been set up at Delhi (2 courts), Faridabad (Haryana), Pune & Nagpur (Maharashtra) Kochi (Kerala), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Guwahati (Assam) and Bengaluru (Karnataka) to try traffic offences. As on 20.01.2021, these courts have handled 41,98,095 cases and realised Rs.139.25cr in fines.
(iii) Filling up of vacant positions in Supreme Court, High Courts and District and Subordinate Courts: From 01.05.2014 to 05.02.2021, 35 Judges were appointed in Supreme Court. 570 new Judges were appointed and 520 Additional Judges were made permanent in the High Courts. Sanctioned strength of Judges of High Courts has been increased from 906 in May, 2014 to 1080 currently. Sanctioned and working strength of Judicial Officers in District and Subordinate Courts has increased as follows:
|
As on
|
Sanctioned
Strength
|
Working Strength
|
|
31.12.2013
|
19,518
|
15,115
|
|
05.02.2021
|
24,282
|
19,310
|
Filling up of vacancies in Subordinate judiciary falls within the domain of the State Governments and High Courts concerned.
(iv) Reduction in Pendency through / follow up by Arrears Committees: In pursuance of resolution passed in Chief Justices’ Conference held in April, 2015, Arrears Committees have been set up in High Courts to clear cases pending for more than five years. Arrears Committees have been set up under District Judges too. Arrears Committee has been constituted in the Supreme Court to formulate steps to reduce pendency of cases in High Courts and District Courts. Further, communications have been addressed by Minister of Law & Justice to Chief Justices of High Courts and to Chief Ministers on 20.06.2014 and 14.08.2018 drawing their attention to cases pending for more than five years and to take up pendency reduction campaign.
(v) Emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (as amended on 20th August, 2018) stipulates mandatory pre-institution mediation and settlement of commercial disputes. Amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been made by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2019 inter alia expediting the speedy resolution of disputes by prescribing timelines.
(vi) Initiatives to Fast Track Special Type of Cases: The Fourteenth Finance Commission endorsed the proposal of the Government to strengthen the judicial system in States which included, inter-alia, establishing Fast Track Courts for cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc., and urged the State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided in the form of enhanced tax devolution form 32% to 42% to meet such requirements. As on 18.01.2021, Fast Track Courts are functional for heinous crimes, crimes against women and children, family and matrimonial disputes, etc. To fast track criminal cases involving elected MPs / MLAs, ten (10) Special Courts are functional in nine (9) States/UTs (1 each in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and 2 in NCT of Delhi) and proportionate funds have been released to these States by the Government. Further, Government has approved a scheme for setting up 1023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) across the country for expeditious disposal of pending cases of Rape under IPC and crimes under POCSO Act. As on date, 28 States/UTs have joined the scheme for setting up of 823 FTSCs including ‘exclusive POCSO Courts’. Rs.140 crore was released in the financial year 2019-20 and Rs. 89.89 crore has been released during the financial year 2020-21 for the scheme. Presently 609 FTSCs are functional including 331 exclusive POCSO Courts.
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(vii) In addition, to reduce pendency and unclogging of the courts the Government has recently amended various laws like the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Commercial Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2018.
Annexure STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) & (b) OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1209 FOR ANSWER ON 11.02.2021 REGARDING PENDING CASES IN SUPREME COURT AND HIGH COURTS
Details of Age Wise Pending Cases in High Court as on 05.02.2021
|
Sl. No
|
Name of High Courts
|
Less than 5 years
|
More than 5years &
Less than 10 years (5-10 years)
|
More than 10 years
|
Total
|
|
|
|
Civil
|
Criminal
|
Civil
|
Criminal
|
Civil
|
Criminal
|
|
|
1
|
Allahabad High Court
|
142303
|
146823
|
104057
|
72727
|
167062
|
140355
|
773327
|
|
2
|
Bombay High Court
|
235588
|
57185
|
96203
|
15453
|
127420
|
15396
|
547245
|
|
3
|
Calcutta High Court
|
67812
|
17035
|
45768
|
11395
|
114327
|
13918
|
270255
|
|
4
|
Gauhati High Court
|
35452
|
7674
|
5905
|
1954
|
868
|
122
|
51975
|
|
5
|
High Court for State of
Telangana
|
109211
|
20793
|
57707
|
9199
|
36175
|
3767
|
236852
|
|
6
|
High Court of Andhra
Pradesh
|
92263
|
18937
|
53167
|
7947
|
32617
|
3984
|
208915
|
|
7
|
High Court of Chhattisgarh
|
37014
|
18769
|
9561
|
6354
|
1366
|
3387
|
76451
|
|
8
|
High Court of Delhi
|
43120
|
15040
|
11245
|
5303
|
11289
|
5198
|
91195
|
|
9
|
High Court of Gujarat
|
69264
|
31049
|
19863
|
8680
|
9888
|
7611
|
146355
|
|
10
|
High Court of Himachal
Pradesh
|
55610
|
6920
|
8101
|
2104
|
2085
|
326
|
75146
|
|
11
|
High Court for Jammu &
Kashmir and Ladakh
|
26564
|
5418
|
21071
|
2131
|
7883
|
392
|
63459
|
|
12
|
High Court of Jharkhand
|
26726
|
24850
|
9072
|
8454
|
5116
|
12359
|
86577
|
|
13
|
High Court of Karnataka
|
144438
|
28626
|
61099
|
8236
|
40535
|
5119
|
288053
|
|
14
|
High Court of Kerala
|
111523
|
23556
|
45877
|
10960
|
14183
|
10350
|
216449
|
|
15
|
High Court of Madhya
Pradesh
|
107201
|
66721
|
65960
|
39154
|
52978
|
36004
|
368018
|
|
16
|
High Court of Manipur
|
3421
|
384
|
283
|
16
|
365
|
37
|
4506
|
|
17
|
High Court of Meghalaya
|
1216
|
122
|
106
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
1448
|
|
18
|
High Court of Punjab &
Haryana
|
232836
|
204119
|
66398
|
41793
|
77638
|
25432
|
648216
|
|
19
|
High Court of Rajasthan
|
268788
|
86505
|
68452
|
19927
|
55178
|
31045
|
529895
|
|
20
|
High Court of Sikkim
|
201
|
38
|
4
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
245
|
|
21
|
High Court of Tripura
|
2014
|
301
|
29
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
2347
|
|
22
|
High Court of Uttarakhand
|
18081
|
11783
|
3867
|
2748
|
1470
|
727
|
38676
|
|
23
|
Madras High Court
|
323942
|
53251
|
77192
|
3024
|
118837
|
5572
|
581818
|
|
24
|
Orissa High Court
|
62229
|
31016
|
35053
|
10499
|
21713
|
11195
|
171705
|
|
25
|
Patna High Court
|
74824
|
61995
|
17496
|
9964
|
9094
|
17459
|
190832
|
|
Total
|
2291641
|
938910
|
883536
|
298029
|
908089
|
349755
|
5669960
|
