Pendency of cases in Supreme Court down to 58,879 from over 66,000 in 2012

NEW DELHI: Pendency of cases in the Supreme Court has come down from 66,692 in 2012 to 58,879 as on November 30, 2015, government today informed the Rajya Sabha.

In a written reply, Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda today said the pendency of cases in various High Courts has also declined to 41.53 lakh as against 44.34 lakh cases in 2012.

He said the pendency in district and subordinate courts has also come down to 2.64 crore at the end of 2014, against 2.68 crore cases in 2012.

"As per information made available by the Supreme Court of India, pendency in the Supreme Court of India has declined from 66,692 cases at the end of the year 2012 to 58,879 cases as on November 30, 2015.

"As per information available by the High Courts, the pendency in High Courts has declined from 44.34 lakh cases at the end of the year 2012 to 41.53 lakh cases at the end of 2014. Pendency in District and Subordinate Courts has declined from 2.68 crore cases at the end of year 2012 to 2.64 crore cases at the end of 2014," he said.

Gowda said the then Chief Justice of India had written to High Courts in November 2014 for expeditious disposal of pending cases and reduce the arrears.

He added that the disposal of pending cases is within the domain of judiciary and government has adopted a coordinated approach to assist the judiciary for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial system through improved infrastructure in courts, increasing the strength of judges and judicial officers, besides policy and legislative measures in areas prone to excessive litigation.

In reply to another question, he said, at the conference of Chief Justices' on April 3 and 4, it was resolved that each High Court will establish an Arrears Committee to clear the backlog of cases pending for more than five years.

Gowda said such committees have already been set up in High Courts of Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Orissa, Calcutta and Bombay.

There are a total of 17,42,287 cases pending for more than five years in various High Courts, with the maximum of 6,03,528 cases pending in Allahabad High Court.

This is followed by 1,63,172 and 1,53,500 cases in Bombay and Calcutta High Courts, 1,36,787 cases in Madras and 1,08,795 cases in Punjab and Haryana High Court.