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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3113
ANSWERED ON – 19/03/2026
PENDENCY OF CASES
3113 DR. SASMIT PATRA:
Will the Minister of Law and Justice be pleased to state:
(a) the number of cases pending in the Supreme Court, High Courts and District/Subordinate
Courts as on date, State-wise and court-wise and the number of cases pending for more than five
years;
(b) the vacancies of judges at each level and the steps taken to fill them up;
(c) the measures undertaken to reduce pendency, including e-courts, virtual hearings, fast-track
courts and ADR mechanisms;
(d) the allocation and utilization of funds for judicial infrastructure; and
(e)whether any time-bound roadmap has been prepared for reducing the pendency
substantially and the details thereof?
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): The number of cases pending in the Supreme Court, High Courts and District/
Subordinate Courts as on date, State-wise and court-wise and the number of cases pending for
more than five years are at Annexure I & II.
(b): The vacancies of judges at each level, as on 13.03.2026 are as under:
Sl. No. Court Vacancy Position
1. Supreme Court 1
2. High Courts 316
3. District & Subordinate Courts 4,887
Appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts is made under Articles
124, 217 and 224 of the Constitution of India and according to the procedure laid down in the
Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) prepared in 1998 pursuant to the Supreme Court Judgment of
October 6, 1993 (Second Judges case) read with their Advisory Opinion of October 28, 1998
(Third Judges case). As per the MoP, the responsibility for initiation of proposals for
appointment of Judges in the Supreme Court vests with the Chief Justice of India, while the
responsibility for initiation of proposals for appointment of Judges in the High Courts vests with
1the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, in consultation with two senior-most puisne
Judges of the High Court.
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 MoP. 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.
(c) to (e): The disposal of cases is within the exclusive domain of the judiciary. pendency of
cases in courts arise due to several factors which inter alia, include complexity of the facts
involved, nature of evidence, co-operation of stakeholders, viz., bar, investigation agencies,
witness and litigants, besides the availability of physical infrastructure, supporting staff etc.
However, 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:
i. 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.
ii. 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 3,71,849 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 05.03.2026, 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.
iii. 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)
2Act, 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. The details of the cases disposed of in Lok Adalats from 2016 to January
2026 are as under:
Pre-litigative Pending cases Total
Lok Adalat cases settled settled
National Lok Adalat 33,80,76,089 8,45,59,866 42,26,35,955
State Lok Adalats 39,40,715 67,10,194 1,06,50,909
Permanent Lok Adalats 14,64,728
(cases relating to public 14,64,728 -
utility service)
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.
****
3ANNEXURE-I
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED
QUESTION NO. 3113 FOR ANSWER ON 19.03.2026 REGARDING ‘PENDENCY OF CASES’
Number of cases pending, as on 13.03.2026, and the number of cases pending for more
than five years, in the Supreme Court and High Courts
Pendency as on Cases pending for
13.03.2026 more than 5 years
Supreme Court of India 92,621 24,445
Sl No. Name of the High Court
1 Allahabad High Court 12,26,147 7,33,395
2 Bombay High Court 6,65,758 3,46,741
3 Calcutta High Court 2,04,445 1,11,239
4 Gauhati High Court 64,502 24,358
5 High Court for State of 2,36,590 1,03,050
Telangana
6 High Court Of Chhattisgarh 75,994 25,151
7 High Court Of Rajasthan 6,73,553 2,93,502
8 High Court of Andhra Pradesh 2,48,934 1,16,331
9 High Court of Delhi 1,26,290 45,592
10 High Court of Gujarat 1,74,091 71,973
11 High Court of Himachal Pradesh 1,04,133 40,527
12 High Court of Jammu and 43,314 13,930
Kashmir
13 High Court of Jharkhand 72,905 30,458
14 High Court of Karnataka 3,31,680 78,843
15 High Court of Kerala 2,47,671 1,07,493
16 High Court of Madhya Pradesh 4,78,434 2,55,972
17 High Court of Manipur 6,042 1,094
18 High Court of Meghalaya 1,785 100
19 High Court of Punjab and 4,20,452 2,34,216
Haryana
20 High Court of Sikkim 297 16
21 High Court of Tripura 1,388 6
22 High Court of Uttarakhand 60,859 22,891
23 Madras High Court 5,53,854 2,05,621
24 Orissa High Court 1,63,591 69,359
25 Patna High Court 2,18,181 91,084
Total 64,00,890 30,22,942
Source: National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)
4ANNEXURE-II
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED
QUESTION NO. 3113 FOR ANSWER ON 19.03.2026 REGARDING ‘PENDENCY OF CASES’
Number of cases pending, as on 13.03.2026, and the number of cases pending for
more than five years, in the District & Subordinate Courts
Sl No. State/UT Pendency as on Cases pending for
13.03.2026 more than 5 years
1 Andaman and Nicobar 8,627 4,254
2 Andhra Pradesh 9,76,082 1,54,956
3 Arunachal Pradesh 15,719 4,327
4 Assam 5,78,555 68,130
5 Bihar 37,19,519 20,85,650
6 Chandigarh 1,01,946 6,478
7 Chhattisgarh 5,16,848 43,774
8 Delhi 16,02,441 2,79,489
9 Goa 62,025 17,109
10 Gujarat 20,69,656 2,58,773
11 Haryana 15,46,857 2,21,443
12 Himachal Pradesh 6,23,427 81,154
13 Jammu and Kashmir 3,52,201 82,675
14 Jharkhand 5,73,546 1,62,249
15 Karnataka 24,36,610 4,28,675
16 Kerala 18,00,628 3,53,933
17 Ladakh 1,629 110
18 Lakshadweep 557 97
19 Madhya Pradesh 21,22,639 3,92,365
20 Maharashtra 60,60,201 17,42,851
21 Manipur 14,139 3,201
22 Meghalaya 16,671 5,810
23 Mizoram 7,343 545
24 Nagaland 3,940 1,129
25 Odisha 18,20,475 7,46,383
26 Puducherry 36,414 8,499
27 Punjab 9,77,912 65,405
28 Rajasthan 27,17,617 7,00,519
29 Sikkim 2,284 40
30 Tamil Nadu 17,63,798 2,78,994
31 Telangana 9,91,205 1,69,772
The Dadra And Nagar Haveli
32 And Daman And Diu 8,359 1,770
33 Tripura 67,190 4,206
34 Uttar Pradesh 1,21,37,452 48,66,682
35 Uttarakhand 3,13,735 55,687
36 West Bengal 39,08,587 15,09,157
Total 4,99,56,834 1,48,06,291
Source: National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)
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