Parliament Question: Current Number of Pending Cases in Courts

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5553 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 27TH MARCH, 2026 CURRENT NUMBER OF PENDING CASES IN COURTS 5553. DR. PRABHA MALLIKARJUN: Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state: (a) the current number of pending cases in the Supreme Court, High Courts, and subordinate courts and the average duration of cases pending beyond standard timelines, State-wise; (b) the measures undertaken by the Government to expedite disposal of cases, including digitization of court processes, e-courts and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms; (c) the initiatives taken to strengthen judicial infrastructure, including recruitment of judges, capacity building and modernizing court facilities; and (d) the future plans proposed to further reduce case backlog, improve access to justice and enhance transparency and efficiency in the judicial system? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL) (a): As per information available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), the current number of pending cases in the Supreme Court, High Courts and subordinate courts, State-wise is at Annexure I & II. However, the information regarding average duration of cases pending is not centrally maintained. (b) to (d): The disposal of the cases is within the exclusive domain of judiciary. However, the Government is fully committed for speedy disposal of cases and reducing pendency as mandated under Article 21 of the Constitution. The Government has taken several initiatives to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary which, inter-alia, includes amalgamation of latest technologies for increasing access to justice and greater transparency under the e-Courts Mission Mode Project and supplementing of the resources of the State Governments/UTs for providing suitable infrastructure facilities for the District and Subordinate Judiciary under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary. i. The Government has demonstrated its commitment in modernizing judiciary with advanced digital infrastructure by significantly increasing the budget of Phase III (2023–2027) to ₹7,210 crore. This phase envisions transforming Indian courts into Digital and Paperless Courts by digitizing legacy and current case records, expanding video conferencing to all courts, jails, and hospitals, and extending online courts beyond traffic violations. It also aims for universal saturation of eSewaKendras, creation of a state-of-the-art cloud-based data repository for storing digitized court records and applications, and deployment of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for case analysis and forecasting.ii. Currently, over 660.36 crore pages of court records have been digitized, and 2,444 eSewaKendras have been established to enhance citizen service delivery. Courts have conducted over 3.97 crore hearings through video conferencing facilities. Approximately 1.07 cr. cases have been filed electronically through the eFiling platform. Live streaming of court proceedings has expanded to four additional High Courts, Uttarakhand, Calcutta, Telangana, and Meghalaya, making it 11. All eCourts portals are now hosted on the NIC’s cloud infrastructure, and district court websites have been migrated to the Secure, Scalable, and Sugamya Website as a Service (S3WAAS) platform. iii. The Digital Justice System under the e-Courts Mission Mode Project has expedited and simplified judicial processes and has also improved transparency and accessibility in the justice delivery system. iv. The primary responsibility for the development of infrastructure facilities for District and Subordinate Courts in the States/UTs, rests with the State/UT Governments. However, to augment the resources of the State /UT Governments, the Union Government has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the Development of Infrastructure Facilities for District and Subordinate Courts by providing financial assistance to the State/UT Governments in the prescribed fund sharing between Center and States since 1993-94. As on 28.02.2026, Rs. 770.53 crore were allocated and Rs. 629.66 crore were utilized for judicial infrastructure development across the country. v. The Government has been filling up vacancies of Judges in the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts from time to time. From 01.05.2014 to 28.02.2026, 72 Judges have been appointed in the Supreme Court. 1164 new Judges were appointed and 820 Additional Judges were made permanent in the High Courts during the same period. The sanctioned strength of Judges of the High Courts has increased from 906 in May, 2014 to 1122 till date. vi. Arrears Committees have been set up in all 25 High Courts and the District Courts as well to clear cases pending for more than five years. vii. The Government has also amended The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018, The Commercial Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018, The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018, The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 and The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2018 with a view to reduce pendency. viii. Alternate Dispute Resolution methods have been promoted. The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 was amended in August, 2018 making Pre-institution Mediation and Settlement (PIMS) mandatory in case of commercial disputes. Amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been made by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2015 for expediting the speedy resolution of disputes by prescribing timelines. ix. Lok Adalat is an important Alternative Disputes Resolution Mechanism available to common people, where the disputes/ cases pending in the court of law or at pre- litigation stage are settled/ compromised amicably. Under The Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987, an award made by a Lok Adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties and no appeal lies against it before any court. National Lok Adalats are organized simultaneously in all Taluks, Districts and High Courts on a pre-fixed date. x. Further, the Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice, has framed the 'Directive for the Efficient and Effective Management of Litigation by Government of India', which is an integrated approach in reinforcing the goal of good governance and ensuring public welfare and timely dispensation of justice. The Directive seeks to introduce effective measures to simplify legal processes, prevent unnecessary litigation, address inconsistencies in notifications and orders, minimize unwarranted appeals, streamline inter-departmental coordination in litigation, ensure greater public accountability in arbitration matters, and establish a strong Knowledge Management System (KMS) to improve overall efficiency. The Department of legal Affairs,Ministry of Law and Justice has also developed the Legal Information Management and Briefing System (LIMBS), a web-based portal designed to effectively monitor court cases involving the Union of India. These measures are to proactively take action towards disposal of all pending court cases. ****ANNEXURE-I STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5553 FOR ANSWER ON 27.03.2026 REGARDING ‘CURRENT NUMBER OF PENDING CASES IN COURTS’ Pending cases in Supreme Court and High Courts, as on 23.03.2026 Supreme Court of India 92,782 Sr No. Name of High Court 1 Allahabad High Court 12,26,330 2 Bombay High Court 6,61,117 3 Calcutta High Court 2,04,056 4 Gauhati High Court 64,594 5 High Court for State of Telangana 2,36,629 6 High Court of Andhra Pradesh 2,48,497 7 High Court Of Chhattisgarh 75,698 8 High Court of Delhi 1,26,567 9 High Court of Gujarat 1,73,544 10 High Court of Himachal Pradesh 1,04,305 11 High Court of Jammu and Kashmir 43,401 12 High Court of Jharkhand 72,517 13 High Court of Karnataka 3,31,468 14 High Court of Kerala 2,47,843 15 High Court of Madhya Pradesh 4,76,166 16 High Court of Manipur 6,054 17 High Court of Meghalaya 1,795 18 High Court of Punjab and Haryana 4,18,842 19 High Court Of Rajasthan 6,75,503 20 High Court of Sikkim 301 21 High Court of Tripura 1,385 22 High Court of Uttarakhand 60,951 23 Madras High Court 5,55,779 24 Orissa High Court 1,63,660 25 Patna High Court 2,18,570 Total 63,95,572 Source: National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)ANNEXURE-II STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5553 FOR ANSWER ON 27.03.2026 REGARDING ‘CURRENT NUMBER OF PENDING CASES IN COURTS’ Pending cases in Subordinate Courts, as on 23.03.2026 Sr No. State Total 1 Andaman and Nicobar 8,667 2 Andhra Pradesh 9,23,640 3 Arunachal Pradesh 15,600 4 Assam 5,78,163 5 Bihar 37,09,244 6 Chandigarh 99,845 7 Chhattisgarh 4,62,014 8 Delhi 16,86,426 9 Goa 61,780 10 Gujarat 15,60,074 11 Haryana 14,90,023 12 Himachal Pradesh 5,98,819 13 Jammu and Kashmir 3,52,352 14 Jharkhand 5,71,746 15 Karnataka 22,61,280 16 Kerala 17,91,465 17 Ladakh 1,629 18 Lakshadweep 567 19 Madhya Pradesh 20,91,722 20 Maharashtra 59,61,061 21 Manipur 14,191 22 Meghalaya 16,671 23 Mizoram 7,318 24 Nagaland 3,946 25 Odisha 18,16,722 26 Puducherry 36,414 27 Punjab 9,25,788 28 Rajasthan 25,96,147 29 Sikkim 2,319 30 Tamil Nadu 17,59,825 31 Telangana 9,90,868 32 The Dadra And Nagar Haveli And Daman And Diu 8,285 33 Tripura 56,318 34 Uttar Pradesh 1,19,49,059 35 Uttarakhand 3,01,345 36 West Bengal 39,22,188 Total 4,86,33,521 Source: National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)