THE MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE
(SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)
(a): The number of pending cases during the last three years in Supreme Court of India, High Courts and District & Subordinate Courts is as under:-
Sl. No. Name of Court Pendency in the Year 2019 Pendency in the Year 2020 Pendency in the Year 2021 Pendency in the Year 2022
1 Supreme Court of India 59,535
(as on 02.12.2019) 64,426
(as on 04.12.2020) 69,855
(as on 06.12.2021) 70,154
(as on 02.03.2022)
2 High Courts 46,84,354
(as on 31.12.2019) 56,42,567
(as on 31.12.2020) 56,49,068
(as on 31.12.2021) 58,90,726
(as on 28.03.2022)
3 District & Subordinate Courts 3,22,96,224
(as on 31.12.2019) 3,66,39,436
(as on 31.12.2020) 4,05,79,062
(as on 31.12.2021) 4,09,85,490
(as on 28.03.2022)
Disposal of pending cases in courts is within the domain of the judiciary. 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. Timely disposal of cases in courts depends on several factors which, inter-alia, include availability of adequate number of judges and judicial officers, supporting court staff and physical infrastructure, 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. There are several factors which may lead to delay in disposal of cases. These, inter-alia, include vacancies of judges, frequent adjournments and lack of adequate arrangement to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing. The 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.
National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms was set up in August, 2011 with the twin objectives of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears in the system and enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting performance standards and capacities. The Mission has been pursuing a co-ordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration, which, inter-alia, involves better infrastructure for courts including computerization, increase in strength of subordinate judiciary, policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to excessive litigation, re-engineering of court procedure for quick disposal of cases and emphasis on human resource development.
(b): The National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) maintain data relating to pendency, disposal of cases in High Courts and District and Taluka Courts. NJDG does not maintain data on average time taken for disposal of cases in courts. However, data available on the NJDG, on the time taken to disposition of cases in respect of High Courts including Allahabad High Court, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan High Court, as on 28.03.2022 is at Annexure.
(c): & (d): At present, a Committee on Artificial Intelligence has been constituted by the Supreme Court of India which is presently chaired by Hon’ble Mr. Justice L. Nageswara Rao, Judge, Supreme Court of India to look into all matters related to use of Artificial Technology in the entire Court eco-system.
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Annexure
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (B) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5042 FOR ANSWER ON 01.04.2022 REGARDING DISPOSAL OF CASES.
Name of High Courts With in a 1 year 1-2 Year 2-3Year 3-4 Year 4-5 Year 5-6 Year 6-7 Year 7-8 Year 8-9 Year 9-10 Year
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11)
Allahabad High Court 7597
(39.50 %) 4,858
(25.26 %) 403
(2.10 %) 470
(2.44 %) 329
(1.71 %) 220
(1.14 %) 345
(1.79 %) 540
(2.81 %) 1175
(6.11 %) 716
(3.72 %)
Calcutta High Court 3739
(32.68 %) 3,824
(33.42 %) 405
(3.54 %) 536
(4.68 %) 240
(2.10 %) 272
(2.38 %) 176
(1.54 %) 143
(1.25 % 850
(7.43 %) 300
(2.62 %)
Gauhati High Court 1,161
(35.57 %) 823
(25.21 %) 328
(10.05 %) 357 (10.94 %) 192
(5.88 %) 145
(4.44 %) 99
(3.03 %) 65
(1.99 %) 45
(1.38 %) 22
(0.67 %)
High Court for the State of Telangana 7965
(47.00 %) 5,331
(31.46 %) 325
(1.92 %) 330
(1.95 %) 393
(2.32 %) 480
(2.83 %) 321
(1.89 %) 198
(1.17 %) 170
(1.00 %) 134
(0.79 %)
High Court of Andhra Pradesh 3,075
(49.97 %) 1,246
(20.25 %) 280
(4.55 %) 205
(3.33 %) 178
(2.89 %) 192
(3.12 %) 207
(3.36 %) 193
(3.14 %) 155
(2.52 %) 92
(1.49 %)
High Court of Bombay 4,994
(34.04 %) 4,302
(29.33 %) 963
(6.56 %) 1,733
(11.81 %) 650
(4.43 %) 465
(3.17 %) 251
(1.71 %) 265
(1.81 %) 223
(1.52 %) 160
(1.09 %)
High Court of Chhattisgarh 1,953
(55.56 %) 653
(18.58 %) 161
(4.58 %) 221
(6.29 %) 76
(2.16 %) 81
(2.30 %) 116
(3.30 %) 47
(1.34 %) 19
(0.54 %) 56
(1.59 %)
High Court of Delhi 3,302
(48.76 %) 1,608
(23.74 %) 1,266
(18.69 %) 340
(5.02 %) 77
(1.14 %) 38
(0.56 %) 33
(0.49 %) 17
(0.25 %) 19
(0.28 %) 20
(0.30 %)
High Court of Gujarat NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
High Court of Himachal Pradesh 2,232
(56.00 %) 1,038
(26.04 %) 331
(8.30 %) 201
(5.04 %) 44
(1.10 % 40
(1.00 %) 24
(0.60 %) 16
(0.40 %) 18
(0.45 %) 12
(0.30 %)
High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh 365
(14.82 %) 201
(8.16 %) 98
(3.98 %) 140
(5.68 %) 206
(8.36 %) 196
(7.96 %) 224
(9.09 %) 264
(10.72 %) 233
(9.46 %) 148
(6.01 %)
High Court of Jharkhand 79
(3.29 %) 562
(23.42 %) 215
(8.96 %) 468
(19.50 %) 170
(7.08 %) 163
(6.79 %) 159
(6.63 %) 72
(3.00 %) 49
(2.04 %) 68
(2.83 %)
High Court of Karnataka 2,382
(18.19 %) 3,318
(25.33 %) 970
(7.41 %) 1,424
(10.87 %) 937
(7.15 %) 933
(7.12 %) 668
(5.10 %) 534
4.08 %) 501
(3.83 %) 478
(3.65 %)
High Court of Kerala 1,823
(25.88 %) 1,932
(27.43 %) 555
(7.88 %) 401
(5.69 %) 276
(3.92 %) 277
(3.93 %) 340
(4.83 %) 206
(2.92 %) 169
(2.40 % 151
(2.14 %)
High Court of Madhya Pradesh NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
High Court of Manipur 249
(39.15 %) 186
(29.25 %) 60
(9.43 %) 67
(10.53 %) 40
(6.29 %) 18
(2.83 %) 3
(0.47 %) 3
(0.47 %) 8
(1.26 %) 0
(0.00 %)
High Court of Meghalaya 87
(27.02 %) 88
(27.33 %) 46
(14.29 %) 32
(9.94 %) 10
(3.11 %) 1
(0.31 %) 39
(12.11 %) 9
(2.80 %) 9
(2.80 %) 1
(0.31 %)
High Court of Punjab & Haryana 2,242
(31.26 %) 2,161
(30.13 %) 484
(6.75 %) 540
(7.53 %) 342
(4.77 %) 466
(6.50 %) 323
(4.50 %) 262
(3.65 %) 93
(1.30 %) 82
(1.14 %)
High Court of Rajasthan 3,911
(32.88 %) 2,912
(24.48 %) 1,068
(8.98 %) 1,414
(11.89 %) 898
(7.55 %) 475
(3.99 %) 268
(2.25 %) 267
(2.24 %) 125
(1.05 %) 68
(0.57 %)
High Court of Sikkim 5
(22.73 %) 7
(31.82 %) 3
(13.64 %) 3
3.64 %) 4
(18.18 %) 0
.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %)
High Court of Tripura 119
(20.07 %) 289
(48.74 %) 29
(4.89 %) 91
(15.35 %) 48
(8.09 %) 8
(1.35 %) 6
(1.01 %) 2
(0.34 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %)
High Court of Uttarakhand 551
(40.51 %) 288
(21.18 %) 93
(6.84 %) 148
(10.88 %) 189
(13.90 %) 22
(1.62 %) 7
(0.51 %) 7
(0.51 %) 24
(1.76 %) 4
(0.29 %)
Madras High Court 17,125
(33.43 %) 13,777
(26.89 %) 4,056
(7.92 %) 4,326
(8.44 %) 2,465
(4.81 %) 2,522
(4.92 %) 1,582
(3.09 %) 855
(1.67 %) 1,007
(1.97 %) 594
(1.16 %)
Orissa High Court 6,574
(28.67 %) 12,033
(52.47 %) 555
(2.42 %) 200
(0.87 %) 145
(0.63 %) 193
(0.84 %) 224
(0.98 %) 236
(1.03 %) 297
(1.30 %) 418
(1.82 %)
Patna High Court 979
(18.63 %) 3,236
(61.57 %) 621
(11.82 %) 158
(3.01 %) 138
(2.63 %) 53
(1.01 %) 31
(0.59 %) 21
(0.40 %) 7
(0.13 %) 5
(0.10 %)
Name of High Courts 10-11 Year 11-12 Year 12-13 Year 13-14
Year 14-15
Year 15-16
Year 16-17 Year 17-18
Year 18-19 Year 19-20 Year 20-21 Year More
Than 21 Years
(12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23)
Allahabad High Court 302
(1.57 %) 231
(1.20 %) 270 (1.40 %) 267
(1.39 %) 197
(1.02 %) 204
(1.06 %) 152
(0.79 %) 194
(1.01 %) 139
(0.72 %) 94
(0.49 %) 80
(0.42 %) 452
(2.35 %)
Calcutta High Court 64
(0.56 %) 95
(0.83 %) 62
(0.54 %) 301
(2.63 %) 21
(0.18 %) 149
(1.30 %) 14
(0.12 % 8
(0.07 %) 17
(0.15 %) 123
(1.07 %) 29
(0.25 %) 74
(0.65 %)
Gauhati High Court 8
(0.25 %) 9
(0.28 %) 8
(0.25 %) 1
(0.03 %) 0
(0.00 %) 1
(0.03 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0 (0.00 %) 0 (0.00 %)
High Court for the State of Telangana 140
(0.83 %) 120 (0.71 %) 218
(1.29 %) 230
(1.36 %) 169
(1.00 %) 128
(0.76 %) 70
(0.41 %) 67
(0.40 %) 61
(0.36 %) 48
(0.28 %) 30
(0.18 %) 18
(0.11 %)
High Court of Andhra Pradesh 45
(0.73 %) 40
(0.65 %) 31
(0.50 %) 89
(1.45 %) 20
0.32 %) 24
(0.39 %) 11
(0.18 %) 12
(0.19 %) 12
(0.19 %) 14
(0.23 %) 18
(0.29 %) 15
(0.24 %)
High Court of Bombay 77
(0.52 %) 82
(0.56 %) 60
(0.41 %) 56
(0.38 %) 77
(0.52 %) 71
(0.48 %) 29
(0.20 %) 39
(0.27 %) 36
(0.25 %) 24
(0.16 %) 43
(0.29 %) 70
(0.48 %)
High Court of Chhattisgarh 72
(2.05 %) 17
(0.48 %) 8
(0.23 %) 7
(0.20 %) 5
(0.14 %) 7
(0.20 %) 5
(0.14 %) 3
(0.09 %) 1
(0.03 %) 2
(0.06 %) 1
(0.03 %) 4
(0.11 %)
High Court of Delhi 5
(0.07 %) 5
(0.07 %) 7
(0.10 %) 6
(0.09 %) 7
(0.10 %) 6
(0.09 %) 3
(0.04 %) 4
(0.06 %) 7
(0.10 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 2
(0.03 %)
High Court of Gujarat NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
High Court of Himachal Pradesh 11
(0.28 %) 6
(0.15 %) 1
(0.03 %) 3
(0.08 %) 5
(0.13 %) 1
(0.03 %) 0
(0.00 %) 1
(0.03 %) 2
0.05 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %)
High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh 88
(3.57 %) 89
(3.61 %) 61
(2.48 %) 44
(1.79 %) 23
(0.93 %) 19
(0.77 %) 19
(0.77 %) 12
(0.49 %) 12
(0.49 %) 9
(0.37 %) 10
(0.41 %) 2
(0.08 %
High Court of Jharkhand 70
(2.92 %) 109
(4.54 %) 66
(2.75 %) 44
(1.83 %) 21
(0.88 %) 24
(1.00 %) 20
(0.83 %) 7
(0.29 %) 17
(0.71 %) 12
(0.50 %) 2
(0.08 %) 3
(0.13 %)
High Court of Karnataka 287
(2.19 %) 221
(1.69 %) 199
(1.52 %) 49
(0.37 %) 49
(0.37 %) 59
(0.45 %) 64
(0.49 %) 17
(0.13 %) 0
(0.00 %) 4
(0.03 %) 1
(0.01 %) 2
(0.02 %)
High Court of Kerala 463
(6.57 %) 112
(1.59 %) 74
(1.05 %) 137
(1.94 %) 38
(0.54 %) 25
(0.35 %) 20
(0.28 %) 15
(0.21 %) 9
(0.13 %) 6
(0.09 %) 9
(0.13 %) 6
(0.09 %)
High Court of Madhya Pradesh NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
High Court of Manipur 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 1
(0.16 %) 1
(0.16 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %)
High Court of Meghalaya 0 (0.00 %) 0 (0.00 %) 0 (0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %)
High Court of Punjab & Haryana 35
(0.49 %) 30
(0.42 %) 24
(0.33 %) 13
(0.18 %) 16
(0.22 %) 17
(0.24 %) 11
(0.15 % 8
(0.11 %) 8
(0.11 %) 4
(0.06 %) 4
(0.06 %) 8
(0.11 %)
High Court of Rajasthan 90
(0.76 %) 92
(0.77 %) 43
(0.36 %) 55
(0.46 %) 41
(0.34 %) 40
(0.34 %) 21
(0.18 %) 24
(0.20 %) 16
(0.13 %) 10
(0.08 %) 11
(0.09 %) 45
(0.38 %)
High Court of Sikkim 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %)
High Court of Tripura 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 1
(0.17 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %)
High Court of Uttarakhand 8
(0.59 %) 8
(0.59 %) 1
(0.07 %) 1
(0.07 %) 2
(0.15 %) 2
(0.15 %) 0
(0.00 %) 5
(0.37 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %)
Madras High Court 634
(1.24 %) 458
(0.89 %) 614
(1.20 %) 206
(0.40 %) 113
(0.22 %) 90
(0.18 %) 65
(0.13 %) 108
(0.21 %) 94
(0.18 %) 109
(0.21 %) 87
(0.17 %) 340
(0.66 %)
Orissa High Court 247
(1.08 %) 244
(1.06 %) 308
(1.34 %) 242
(1.06 %) 169
(0.74 %) 172
(0.75 %) 115
(0.50 %) 104
(0.45 %) 119
(0.52 %) 83
(0.36 %) 43
(0.19 %) 212
(0.92 %)
Patna High Court 1
(0.02 %) 3
(0.06 % 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 2
(0.04 %) 0
(0.00 %) 0
(0.00 %) 1
(0.02 %) 0
(0.00 %)
Source:- National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)
NA – Not Available
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