LUDHIANA: MP (Rajya Sabha) from Ludhiana Sanjeev Arora has raised an important issue of pendency of cases in courts across the country in budget session of Rajya Sabha.
Answering to the questions, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal provided information about total number of cases pending in the Indian Judiciary for the last five years. The Minister provided the data as per information available on National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). According to the available data, the year-wise total number of cases pendency in Supreme Court was as under: 59, 858 (2019), 65, 086 (2020), 70, 239 (2021), 69, 768 (2022) and 80, 765 (2023). Likewise, the year-wise total number of cases pendency in High Court was as under: 46, 84, 354 (2019), 56, 42, 567(2020), 56, 49, 068 (2021), 59, 78, 714 (2022) and 62, 12, 375 (2023). And, the year-wise total number of cases pendency in District Court and Sessions Court was as under: 3, 22, 96, 224 (2019), 3, 66, 39, 436 (2020), 4, 05, 79, 062 (2021), 4, 32, 09, 164 (2022) and 4, 44, 09, 480 (2023).
Citing reasons for pendency of cases in courts, the Minister mentioned in his answer that there are several reasons that lead to pendency of cases in courts 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.
Giving this information here today, Arora said the Minister further mentioned in his reply that other factors that lead to delay in disposal of cases include lack of prescribed timeframe by respective courts for disposal of various kinds of cases, frequent adjournments and lack of adequate arrangement to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing. Moreover, in case of pendency of criminal cases, the criminal justice system functions on assistance by various agencies viz. Police, Prosecution, Forensic Labs, Handwriting Experts and Medico-Legal Experts. Delay in providing assistance by allied agencies also entails delay in disposal of cases.
Further, the Minister replied that the resolution of pending cases in courts is within the exclusive domain of the judiciary. However, the Government is committed towards facilitating an ecosystem for expeditious disposal of cases by judiciary and reducing pendency as mandated under Article 21 of the Constitution. To this end, the Government setup the National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms in 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 improved 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.
Arora said the Minister further answered that due to consistent efforts on part of the Government and the Judiciary, there has been a marked increase in the judges’ strength, with the sanctioned strength of Judges of Supreme Court increased from 31 in year 2014 to 34 Judges at present. Since May 2014, the Government has appointed 62 Supreme Court Judges. Further, in case of High Courts, the sanctioned strength of High Court Judges has increased from 906 in year 2014 to 1114 Judges, as on date, with a total of 208 new posts of High Court Judges created since year 2014. A total of 976 High Court Judges have been appointed since year 2014.