(a) the State-wise details of the present number of criminal and civil cases in the country;
(b) the number of criminal and civil cases pending especially in Supreme Court and High Courts;
(c) the number of cases heard in Supreme Court and High Courts during the last three years along with the number of cases decided;
(d) whether the Government has any scheme to speed up the judicial process; and
(e) if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS
(SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)
(a) & (b): State / UT-wise details of the present number of civil and criminal cases pending in District and Subordinate Courts of the country are given in Statement at Annexure. 46,860 civil cases and 10,134 criminal cases are pending in the Supreme Court as on 01.12.2018. In various High Courts, 24,38,561 Civil Cases, 13,26,794 Criminal Cases and 12,13,678 Writ Petitions are pending as on 21.12.2018.
(c) : The details of number of cases disposed in the Supreme Court and various High Courts during the last three years are given below:
Court Year Number of Cases disposed
Supreme Court 2015 82,092
2016 75,979
2017 63,053
High Courts 2014 17,34,542
2015 15,80,911
2016 15,39,315
(d) & (e) : The Government is committed to speedy disposal of cases and reduction in pendency of cases to improve access to justice in line with the mandate of the Preamble and Article 39A of the Constitution. The following interventions have been made by the Government during the last 4 years:
1) Pursuant to the decisions taken in the Joint Conference of the Chief Ministers of the States and Chief Justices of the High Courts in 2015, Arrears Committee has been established in the Supreme Court, all 24 High Courts and District Courts. The progress made by the High Courts and subordinate judiciary in reducing pendency was taken up for consideration again in the Conference of Chief Justices of High Courts held in April 2016, wherein it was resolved, inter alia, that all High Courts shall assign top most priority for disposal of cases which are pending for more than five years.
2) In April, 2015, the Hon’ble Prime Minister had written to all Chief Ministers of States drawing attention to the pending cases in courts and urging them to utilise the additional fiscal space provided in the form of enhanced tax devolution from 32% to 42% as recommended by the 14th Finance Commission and accepted by the Government, to improve the working of the judicial system and provide speedy justice in the country.
3) In September, 2016, Minister of Law & Justice wrote to the Chief Ministers of States and the Chief Justices of High Courts to enhance the cadre strength of the district and subordinate judiciary and provide physical infrastructure to the State judiciary. The same was reiterated in May, 2017. In August, 2018, in the context of increasing pendency of cases, the Minister of Law & Justice has written to all Chief Justices of High Courts to monitor the status of the vacancies regularly and to ensure proper coordination with the state Public Service Commission to fill up vacant posts as per time schedule prescribed by the Supreme Court in the Malik Mazhar Sultan case.
Besides taking up the concern of pendency of cases with the States and High Courts, the Government has simultaneously 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 [court halls and residential units] for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts, leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for better justice delivery, filling up of vacant positions of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court, reduction in pendency through follow up by Arrears Committees at District, High Court and Supreme Court level, emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) and initiatives to fast track special type of cases.