1310014291--Vital Stats - Pendency of Cases in Indian Courts 04Jul11 v5 - Revised.pdf

## Vital Stats Pende Pende Pende Pendency Of Cases In Indian Courts Ncy Of Cases In Indian Courts Ncy Of Cases In Indian Courts Ncy Of Cases In Indian Courts

The Union Law Minister recently launched the 'Mission Mode Programme for Reduction of Pendency of Arrears in Courts'.  According to media reports, the programme aims to dispose of 40 per cent of the cases pending in subordinate courts across the country, in the coming six months.1 
As on 30th September, 2010, a total of 2.8 crore cases are pending in subordinate courts and 42 
lakh in High Courts.  Approximately 9% of these cases have been pending for over 10 years and a further 24% cases have been pending for more than 5 years.2 

## Pendency Of Cases Across Indian Courts Has Increased By 38% In The Last Decade

High Courts
Subordinate Courts

## Despite Some Measures Taken By The Government, The Backlog Is Still Increasing Filing And Resolution Of Cases

 
Category 
Supreme Court 
High Courts 
Subordinate Courts 
 
(Thousand) 
(Lakh) 
(Crore) 
Pending ( start of year) 
56 
40 
2.7 
Fresh cases filed 
78 
19 
1.8 
Cases resolved 
79 
17 
1.7 
Pending (end of year) 
55 
42 
2.8 

Note: Data spans duration of one year.  However, due to lack of availability of information, the time periods are slightly staggered.  Periods under consideration are: Supreme Court (Jan - Dec 2010), High Courts and Subordinate Courts (Oct 2009 - Oct 2010) 
 

� About 55,000 cases are currently pending with the 
Supreme Court, 42 lakh with High Courts and 2.8 crore 
with subordinate courts.  
� Pendency has increased by 148% in the Supreme Court, 
53% in High Courts and 36% in subordinate courts in the last 10 years. 
� The Union Law Minister, in his reply to a question in 
Lok Sabha, spoke about the reasons for increase in 
pendency.  These include: (i) increase in institution of 
fresh cases; (ii) inadequate number of judges and vacancies; (iii) inadequate physical infrastructure and 
staff; and (iv) frequent adjournments.3 
� Over the past few years, some measures have been taken 
by the government to facilitate expeditious disposal of 
cases.  These include schemes for computerisation, infrastructural augmentation, promotion of Alternate 
Dispute Resolution mechanisms, Lok Adalats etc.4  
� Despite these initiatives, the rate of case disposal has not 
kept pace with the rate of case institution.  As a result, 
the total number of pending cases has increased. 
� Between October 2009 and October 2010, subordinate 
courts settled 1.73 crore cases as compared to 1.24 crore in 1999, an increase of 49 lakh.  During the same period, 
the fresh cases filed increased by 52 lakh.5,6

## Vacancies Across Courts Are High; 60% Of Sanctioned Strength Of Allahabad Hc Is Vacant6 Vacancies In The Larger High Courts Number Of Undertrails In Jails Is Double That Of Convicts Prisoners In Jails

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=72970   
3 Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2569 (November 25, 2010) 
4 Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1173 (March 07, 2011) 
5 Text of Speech - Addresses by the Chief Justice of India at the joint conferences of Chief Ministers and Chief 
Justices, 2006, 2007 and 2009 
6 Court News, Supreme Court of India, http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/courtnews.htm 
7 National Human Rights Commission, Prison Population Statistics (June, 2009), 
http://nhrc.nic.in/PRISON_STATS_JUN_09_FOR_NIC.xls 
8 'Moily promises to free 2 lakh undertrails'. India Today, (January 26,2010), 
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/Moily+promises+to+free+2+lakh+undertrials/1/80972.html 
� The sanctioned strength of judges is 31 for the Supreme 
Court, 895 for the High Courts and 17,151 for the subordinate judges. 
� 33% of the sanctioned positions in High Courts are 
currently vacant.  Among High Courts, the highest number of vacancies are in the Allahabad High Court (60%), followed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court (38%) and the Calcutta High Court (28%).  
� Vacancies in subordinate courts equal 18% of the total 
sanctioned strength.  The corresponding figure for the 
Supreme Court is 6%. 
� In June 2009, there were 3.8 lakh prisoners in Indian 
jails.  Of these 2.6 lakh were undertrails.7 
� Of the undertrials, several inmates have been in jail for 
many years, in large measure because of delays in the 
justice delivery system.8  
� In early 2010, the government had launched a mission 
to reduce the number of undertrail prisoners in jails. Under this initiative, several cases related to undertrails 
have been taken up.8  
� This is also expected to help in decongestion of prisons. 
At an all-India level, the number of prisoners in Indian 
jails is 3.8 lakh, which is 127% of the built capacity.7  
Pendency of Cases in Indian Courts: 2011