Over 4 Crore Cases Pending In Trial Courts; More Than 60 Lakh Backlogs In High Courts : Law Ministry

In response to questions raised by various Members of Parliament in Lok Sabha, the Union Law Ministry has replied that there are over 4,43,92,136 pending cases in various District and Subordinate Courts across the country, as on July 24. In these pending cases around 1 Lakh cases are more than 30 years old.

The highest number of pendency is in Uttar Pradesh which is over 1 Crore (1,16,35,286 to be precise), followed by Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal. Uttar Pradesh also tops the list in highest number of vacancies for judges in lower Courts. The Ministry reveals that around 1200 seats are vacant in the District and Subordinate Judiciary of UP.

High Courts

For High Courts, the Ministry replied that over 60 Lakh cases are pending and Allahabad High Court alone contributes approximately 10 Lakh pending cases. The highest number of cases are pending in Allahabad, followed by Bombay, Rajasthan and Madras.

The highest number of vacancies also lies in Allahabad High Court, where 65 seats are awaiting appointment of Judges.Over all 341 seats are vacant in High Courts of the country.

However in response to the question whether the pendency of cases in courts has increased due to vacancy of judges in different courts, the government responded that, “the vacancy of judges is not the sole reason for the increased pendency of cases in courts. Pendency of cases in courts can be contributed to several factors which, inter-alia, include availability of physical infrastructure and supporting court staff, complexity of facts involved, nature of evidence, co-operation of stake holders viz. bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants and proper application of rules and procedures.”

Supreme Court

For pending cases in the Supreme Court, the ministry replied that as of July, 2023, around 69 thousand cases are pending with two vacant seats.

 As per the information provided by the Supreme Court of India, as on 21.03.2023, cases pending for more than 30 to 50, 30 to 40, 40 to 50 and more than 50 years is 22, 20, 2, 0 respectively. There are no cases pending for 10 and 15 years in the Supreme Court. In case of the High Courts and District Courts, as per information available on National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) on 24th July, 2023, the number of cases pending for 10 and 15 years or more is as follows:-

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