In the Supreme Court of India, pendency of cases came down from 59,272 in December 2015 to 56,994 on December 31, 2018. However, pendency went up to 62,537 in 2016 and reduced to 55,588 in December 2017. In the combined High Courts across the country, pendency of cases went up from 3,870,375 on December 31, 2015 to 4,245,775 in December 2018. It was 4,015147 in December 2016 and 4,244,907 in December 2017.
Number of sanctioned judges strength in all the High Courts was increased from 906 in May 2014 to 1079 in December 2018. At the same time, current vacancies of High Court judges are 37 per cent with working strength of judges at 679. However, pendency of cases went up since 2015. In the subordinate district and sub-divisional courts, sanctioned strength of judicial officers (magistrates and judges) went up from 19,518 in December 2013 to 22,833 in December 2018. During the period, the working strength of presiding magistrates/judges increased from 15,115 to 17, 701. Vacancies as in January 2019 were at 5,132, increasing pendency of cases to 29.7 million in lower courts, which comes to 20.5 million more cases added from 2015 to January 2019.
During 2017 and 2018, the lower courts disposed of 12.6 million and 13 million cases respectively, while pendency of cases kept growing. In April 2017, the Union Government in consultation with and approval of the apex court launched the Nyaya Mitra (Justice Friendly) Scheme appointing retired judicial officers (magistrates/judges) to dispose of cases pending for over ten years.
The cost of litigation has since gone up manifold making justice unaffordable and prohibitive for the common man. In this regard, the three stake holders, the Government, Bench and Bar, must take a resolute concerted well coordinated action to make the litigation cost effective lest the democratic governance should be coming to naught as anti-people. Increasing litigation cost and the unholy nexus of the Government-Bench-Bar proves dismal failure of the regulator, the Bar Council of India. It is time the three stake holders acted fast to break the unholy nexus of corrupt practices in the administration of justice to bring down the cost of litigation!
EVER RISING COURT CASES IN INDIA
M.Y. Siddiqui - 2019-02-20 12:26
Indian judiciary is facing a huge backlog of cases. Combined pendency of cases in the Supreme Court of India and all the 24 High Courts across the country have increased from 3.93 million on December 31, 2015 to 4.3 million on January 31, 2019. Cases, during the period, have come down marginally by 3.8 per cent in the Supreme Court, while in the High Courts backlog of cases went up by 9.7 per cent (375,402). Allahabad High Court tops the list of pending cases with 726,000 cases followed by Rajasthan High Court with 449, 000 pending cases. In the subordinate district and sub-divisional courts, 29.7 million cases are pending, according to the National Judicial Grid. Two civil cases have been pending since 1951.