Parliament Question: Pendency of cases

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2352 ANSWERED ON 12/03/2026 PENDENCY OF CASES 2352 # SHRI TEJVEER SINGH: Will the Minister of Law and Justice be pleased to state: (a) the number of pending cases in the High Courts and subordinate courts in the country and the major reformative and administrative steps taken by Government to reduce pendency of cases during the last three years; (b) the number of courts wherein e-filing, virtual hearings and digital record systems have been implemented under the e-Courts Mission Mode Project so far, State-wise; and (c) the details of central assistance provided for strengthening judicial infrastructure and filling vacant posts of judges? 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 National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), as on 09.03.2026, 64,01,789 cases are pending in High Courts and4,95,49,089 cases are pending in subordinate courts. The Central Government is committed for speedy disposal of cases and reducing pendency as mandated under Article 21 of the Constitution and has taken several initiatives to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) Scheme, 774 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) including 398 exclusive POCSO (ePOCSO) Courts are functional across 29 States/UTs for the expeditious disposal of pending cases of Rape and POCSO Act, and have collectively disposed of 3,66,124 cases since their inception, as on 31.12.2025. The financial outlay under the scheme is Rs. 1952.23 crore with Rs. 1207.24 crore as Central Share to be incurred from Nirbhaya Fund on the CSS pattern. The Central Government, as on 02.03.2026, has released a total amount of Rs. 1,210.92 crore to States/UTs for the operationalization of FTSCs since the inception of the Scheme in 2019. 1To strengthen the criminal court based legal services, the Department of Justice through NALSA is implementing a Central Sector Scheme, namely, the Legal Aid Defense Counsel System (LADCS) Scheme, which involves full time engagement of Legal Aid Defense Counsels (LADCs) with supporting staff at district level. As on December 2025, Legal Aid Defense Counsel (LADC) offices are functional in 680 districts across the country. LADCS Scheme has been approved for the period of 3 financial years 2023-24 to 2025-26) with a total financial outlay of Rs. 998.43 crore and up to January 2026, Rs. 643.755 crore has been released to NALSA for LADCS Scheme. The details of criminal cases assigned and disposed of by LADCs during the last three years are as follows: - Financial Year Criminal Cases Criminal Cases Disposal Rate assigned disposed 2023-24 3,36,830 2,12,505 63% 2024-25 5,32,413 3,72,750 70% 2025-26 (Dec. 3,93,614 2,86,326 73% 2025) Total 12,62,857 8,71,581 69% Further, the Phase-III of the eCourts Project (2023-2027) approved on 13.09.2023 with an outlay of Rs.7,210 crore to make justice delivery progressively more robust, easy and accessible. Till date, 660.36 crores pages of court records have been digitized in the High Courts and District Courts. More than 3.97 crore hearings have taken place through Video conferencing and live streaming is functional in several High Courts. The number of e Sewa Kendsras (facilitation centres) has increased to 2,444 across High Courts and District Courts. (b): The details of Courts where e-filing, virtual hearings, and digital record systems have been implemented under the e-Courts Mission Mode Project so far is at Annexure. (c): The primary responsibility for development of infrastructure facilities for District & Subordinate Courts in the states, including facilities essential for persons, rests with the State Governments/UTs. To augment the resources of the State Government/UTs, the Union Government has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for the Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in the District & Subordinate Courts by providing financial assistance to the State/UT governments in the prescribed fund sharing between Centre and States. There are five components of the Scheme against which Central assistance is granted to the States/UTs, viz. (i) Court Halls, (ii) Residential Units, (iii) Lawyers’ Halls, (iv) Toilet Complexes and (v) Digital Computer Rooms. Since inception of the scheme, total amount of Rs. 12,681.07 crores (as on 28.02.2026) has been released to States/UTs under the Scheme, out of which Rs. 9,236.76 crore has been released w.e.f. 2014-15. For the current FY 2025-26, an amount of Rs. 629.66 crore has been released to States/UTs. Filling up of the vacancy in the higher Judiciary is a continuous, integrated and collaborative process between the executive and the judiciary. It requires consultation and approval from various Constitutional Authorities both at State and Central level which are obtained in accordance with the 2MoP. The recommendations also have to be considered in the light of such other reports as may be available to the Government in respect of the names under consideration. The recommendations of the High Court Collegium, the State Governments and the Government of India are then forwarded to the Supreme Court Collegium (SCC) for advice. Only those persons whose names have been recommended by the SCC are appointed as Judges of the High Courts. Further, filling up of vacant positions of the judicial officers in District and Subordinate courts is the responsibility of the High Courts and State Governments concerned. As per the Constitutional framework, in exercise of powers conferred under the proviso to Article 309 read with Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution, the respective State Government, in consultation with the High Court, frames the rules and regulations regarding the appointment and recruitment of Judicial Officers. The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide order passed in January 2007 in the Malik Mazhar Sultan case, has inter- alia stipulated certain timelines, which are to be followed by the States and the respective High Courts for recruitment of judges in District and Subordinate Courts. ******* 3ANNEXURE STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (B) OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2352 FOR ANSWER ON 12.03.2026 REGARDING ‘PENDENCY OF CASES’ S.No Name of High Court E-Filing total count as on 31.01.2026, Number of cases dealt with (virtual No. of pages digitized as on 31.01.2026 Total Cases Submitted hearings) on video conferencing as on 31st January 2026 High Courts District Total High Courts District Grand High Court District Courts Total Courts Courts Total 1 Allahabad* 0 12,531 12,531 2,49,209 67,10,672 69,59,881 58,19,35,116 1,75,86,65,405 2,34,06,00,521 2 Andhra Pradesh 23,736 44 23,780 4,22,512 14,59,891 18,82,403 3,62,30,680 18,33,14,688 21,95,45,368 3 Bombay 4,05,326 25,87,820 29,93,146 98,343 3,22,291 4,20,634 9,21,83,862 26,37,314 9,48,21,176 4 Calcutta 12,265 2,621 14,886 1,83,302 1,92,522 3,75,824 5,99,58,081 0 5,99,58,081 5 Chhattisgarh 894 3,363 4,257 1,05,246 4,68,030 5,73,276 28,25,324 2,44,45,025 2,72,70,349 6 Delhi* 0 16,63,101 16,63,101 3,22,201 76,05,823 79,28,024 23,50,99,015 10,75,60,093 34,26,59,108 7 Gauhati – Arunachal 0 0 0 3,620 8,837 12,457 5,06,407 1,26,322 6,32,729 Pradesh 8 Gauhati – Assam 40,764 50,098 90,862 2,67,826 5,53,598 8,21,424 2,97,53,593 15,58,31,203 18,55,84,796 9 Gauhati – Mizoram 0 0 0 4,297 13,581 17,878 12,61,775 21,45,738 34,07,513 10 Gauhati – Nagaland 0 0 0 1,508 1,284 2,792 0 0 0 11 Gujarat 64,650 10,303 74,953 4,20,550 2,38,090 6,58,640 20,56,046 20,98,653 41,54,699 12 Himachal Pradesh 3,655 1,09,090 1,12,745 1,86,441 2,03,751 3,90,192 81,71,391 14,55,412 96,26,803 13 Jammu & Kashmir 29,942 2,11,933 2,41,875 2,65,397 6,01,494 8,66,891 4,12,67,215 2,71,14,636 6,83,81,851 14 Jharkhand 70 1,375 1,445 2,25,518 7,51,716 9,77,234 3,10,02,847 31,56,964 3,41,59,811 15 Karnataka 10,360 4,15,537 4,25,897 12,79,932 1,94,764 14,74,696 5,38,81,928 4,70,33,448 10,09,15,376 16 Kerala* 0 10,93,024 10,93,024 3,17,949 7,59,988 10,77,937 8,38,48,233 1,86,11,454 10,24,59,687 17 Madhya Pradesh* 0 18,045 18,045 7,00,733 11,87,344 18,88,077 24,90,04,956 68,21,95,995 93,12,00,951 18 Madras 1,44,535 22,86,703 24,31,238 15,34,057 4,89,890 20,23,947 21,38,11,184 17,83,78,424 39,21,89,608 19 Manipur 7,546 30,146 37,692 55,340 19,086 74,426 58,94,989 57,94,737 1,16,89,726 20 Meghalaya 39 1 40 6,944 78,682 85,626 12,11,210 38,20,961 50,32,171 21 Orissa 34,988 78,437 1,13,425 3,61,055 3,71,119 7,32,174 5,33,13,761 17,63,75,480 22,96,89,241 22 Patna 7,32,678 57,660 7,90,338 2,78,263 33,11,160 35,89,423 2,41,60,047 2,68,10,068 5,09,70,115 23 Punjab & Haryana 1,22,131 1,51,344 2,73,475 6,56,708 38,02,334 44,59,042 29,65,31,164 65,06,22,740 94,71,53,904 24 Rajasthan 1,36,084 5,918 1,42,002 2,55,986 2,70,243 5,26,229 13,71,87,927 4,10,95,234 17,82,83,161 25 Sikkim 3,896 6,742 10,638 927 17,916 18,843 11,83,569 54,22,642 66,06,211 26 Telangana 10,528 52,753 63,281 15,34,185 2,02,503 17,36,688 13,08,90,654 7,90,39,244 20,99,29,898 27 Tripura 4,472 36,109 40,581 22,556 43,532 66,088 54,61,690 5,63,244 60,24,934 28 Uttarakhand 341 1,01,854 1,02,195 91,348 52,778 1,44,126 2,51,82,755 1,54,92,800 4,06,75,555 Total 17,88,900 89,86,552 1,07,75,452 98,51,953 2,99,32,919 3,97,84,872 2,40,38,15,419 4,19,98,07,924 6,60,36,23,343 Note: - * Allahabad, Delhi, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh are using their own efiling application for High Court. 4