Official Gazette Notification Text
Official TranscriptGOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3501 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 13TH MARCH, 2026 PENDENCY OF CASES IN COURTS 3501. MS. S JOTHIMANI: Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state: (a) the current number of the pending cases in the Supreme Court, various High Courts and District and Subordinate Courts, State-wise...
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3501 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 13TH MARCH, 2026 PENDENCY OF CASES IN COURTS
3501. MS. S JOTHIMANI:
Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:
(a) the current number of the pending cases in the Supreme Court, various High Courts and District and Subordinate Courts, State-wise and category-wise;
(b) the total number of sanctioned versus vacant judicial positions in the Supreme Court and each High Court, as well as in the subordinate judiciary and the average time taken to make appointments;
(c) whether delays in judicial appointments and transfers have contributed to pendency of cases and if so, the steps being taken to streamline the appointment process;
(d) the present status of judicial infrastructure in High Courts and District Courts, including digitalisation, courtroom availability and basic facilities; and
(e) whether the Government has proposed or approved any expansion of Fast Track Courts or specialized courts, particularly for cases relating to women, children and vulnerable groups and if so, 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 current number of pending cases in the Supreme Court, High Courts and District and Subordinate Courts, State-wise and category wise are at Annexure I & II.
(b) & (c): The total number of sanctioned versus vacant judicial positions in the Supreme Court and each High Court, as well as in the subordinate judiciary are at Annexure III & IV.
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 court staff, etc.
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 withthe 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.
(d): 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, there are 22,712 Court Halls and 20,052 Residential Units available in District and Subordinate Courts. 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.
(e): 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.
*****ANNEXURE-I STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3501 FOR ANSWER ON 13.03.2026 REGARDING ‘PENDENCY OF CASES IN COURTS’ Pendency of cases in Supreme Court of India and High Courts, category-wise Civil Criminal Total Supreme Court of India 73,056 19,699 92,755 S. No. Name of High Court 1 Allahabad High Court 6,17,265 5,76,081 11,93,346 2 Bombay High Court 5,46,634 1,15,416 6,62,050 3 Calcutta High Court 172454 32179 204633 4 Gauhati High Court 47,555 16,954 64,509 5 High Court for State of Telangana 2,04,131 32,376 2,36,507 6 High Court of Andhra Pradesh 2,06,581 42,278 2,48,859 7 High Court Of Chhattisgarh 52,888 22,463 75,351 8 High Court of Delhi 93,069 32,893 1,25,962 9 High Court of Gujarat 1,16,691 57,849 1,74,540 10 High Court of Himachal Pradesh 90,576 13,542 1,04,118 11 High Court of Jammu and Kashmir 33,869 9,321 43,190 12 High Court of Jharkhand 32,269 40,890 73,159 13 High Court of Karnataka 2,74,093 57,016 3,31,109 14 High Court of Kerala 2,00,587 47,131 2,47,718 15 High Court of Madhya Pradesh 2,83,994 1,94,767 4,78,761 16 High Court of Manipur 51,40 891 6,031 17 High Court of Meghalaya 1,351 432 1,783 18 High Court of Punjab and Haryana 2,55,401 1,65,653 4,21,054 19 High Court of Rajasthan 4,79,427 1,92,415 6,71,842 20 High Court of Sikkim 208 88 296 21 High Court of Tripura 1,106 283 1,389 22 High Court of Uttarakhand 33,735 27,092 60,827 23 Madras High Court 4,77,589 75,555 5,53,144 24 Orissa High Court 1,22,040 41,487 1,63,527 25 Patna High Court 1,14,535 1,03,100 2,17,635 Total 44,63,188 18,98,152 63,61,340
Source: National Judicial Data Grid as on 09-03-2026ANNEXURE-II STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3501 FOR ANSWER ON 13.03.2026 REGARDING ‘PENDENCY OF CASES IN COURTS’ Pendency of cases in District & Subordinate Courts, state-wise and category-wise Sr No. State Civil Criminal Total 1 Andaman and Nicobar 4,031 4,501 8,532 2 Andhra Pradesh 4,36,522 5,11,287 9,47,809 3 Arunachal Pradesh 3,621 12,145 15,766 4 Assam 1,13,792 4,63,784 5,77,576 5 Bihar 5,38,592 31,77,552 37,16,144 6 Chandigarh 22,839 78,400 1,01,239 7 Chhattisgarh 87,413 4,03,750 4,91,163 8 Delhi 2,17,341 13,83,042 16,00,383 9 Goa 28,169 33,820 61,989 10 Gujarat 3,25,786 16,41,937 19,67,723 11 Haryana 4,27,948 11,12,559 15,40,507 12 Himachal Pradesh 1,78,567 4,43,609 6,22,176 13 Jammu and Kashmir 1,19,520 2,32,165 3,51,685 14 Jharkhand 96,274 4,74,955 5,71,229 15 Karnataka 10,56,085 13,34,144 23,90,229 16 Kerala 5,41,843 12,59,672 18,01,515 17 Ladakh 789 842 1,631 18 Lakshadweep 151 406 557 19 Madhya Pradesh 4,26,046 16,91,148 21,17,194 20 Maharashtra 17,66,653 43,10,083 6,076,736 21 Manipur 9,157 4,938 14,095 22 Meghalaya 4,917 4,917 16,671 23 Mizoram 4,028 3,319 7,347 24 Nagaland 1,043 2,876 3,919 25 Odisha 2,69,938 15,47,258 18,17,196 26 Puducherry 11,757 24,657 36,414 27 Punjab 3,63,976 6,08,245 9,72,221 28 Rajasthan 5,14,668 21,62,933 26,77,601 29 Sikkim 933 1,339 2,272 30 Tamil Nadu 7,04,363 10,64,754 17,69,117 31 Telangana 3,39,582 6,51,905 9,91,487 The Dadra And Nagar Haveli And Daman 32 And Diu 3,681 4,702 8,383 33 Tripura 13,524 52,082 65,606 34 Uttar Pradesh 18,43,158 1,01,61,311 1,20,04,469 35 Uttarakhand 48,932 262101 31,1033 36 West Bengal 6,42,234 32,60,381 39,02,615 Total 11,167,873 38,387,519 49,562,229
Source: National Judicial Data Grid as on 09-03-2026ANNEXURE-III STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (B) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3501 FOR ANSWER ON 13.03.2026 REGARDING ‘PENDENCY OF CASES IN COURTS’ Total number of sanctioned versus vacant judicial positions in the Supreme Court and High Courts SANCTIONED WORKING VACANCIES STRENGTH STRENGTH A. Supreme Court 34 33 1 B. High Court 1 Allahabad 160 109 51 2 Andhra Pradesh 37 33 4 3 Bombay 94 80 14 4 Calcutta 72 43 29 5 Chhattisgarh 22 15 7 6 Delhi 60 44 16 7 Gauhati 30 25 5 8 Gujarat 52 35 17 9 Himachal Pradesh 17 12 5 10 J & K and Ladakh 25 14 11 11 Jharkhand 25 14 11 12 Karnataka 62 46 16 13 Kerala 47 40 7 14 Madhya Pradesh 53 42 11 15 Madras 75 52 23 16 Manipur 5 3 2 17 Meghalaya 4 4 0 18 Orissa 33 19 14 19 Patna 53 38 15 20 Punjab & Haryana 85 61 24 21 Rajasthan 50 39 11 22 Sikkim 3 3 0 23 Telangana 42 28 14 24 Tripura 5 4 1 25 Uttarakhand 11 10 1 Total 1122 813 309ANNEXURE-IV STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (B) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3501 FOR ANSWER ON 13.03.2026 REGARDING ‘PENDENCY OF CASES IN COURTS’ Total number of sanctioned versus vacant judicial positions in Subordinate Judiciary SL. NO. STATES & UTs TOTAL TOTAL WORKING TOTAL SANCTIONED STRENGTH VACANCY STRENGTH
1. Andhra Pradesh 643 572 71
2. Arunachal Pradesh 53 39 14
3. Assam 485 461 24
4. Bihar 2025 1665 360
5. Chandigarh 30 28 2
6. Chhattisgarh 663 465 198
7. D & N Haveli 3 2 1
8. Daman & Diu 4 4 0
9. Delhi 897 838 59
10. Goa 50 40 10
11. Gujarat 1720 1185 535
12. Haryana 781 643 138
13. Himachal Pradesh 188 173 15
14. Jammu and Kashmir 322 270 52
15. Jharkhand 707 496 211
16. Karnataka 1395 1129 266
17. Kerala 611 577 34
18. Ladakh 17 9 8
19. Lakshadweep 4 4 0
20. Madhya Pradesh 2028 1638 390
21. Maharashtra 2190 1940 250
22. Manipur 62 49 13
23. Meghalaya 99 57 42
24. Mizoram 74 45 29
25. Nagaland 34 24 10
26. Odisha 1044 861 183
27. Puducherry 38 26 12
28. Punjab 812 699 113
29. Rajasthan 1698 1489 209
30. Sikkim 35 23 12
31. Tamil Nadu 1386 1235 151
32. Telangana 560 445 115
33. Tripura 133 119 14
34. Uttar Pradesh 3700 2631 1069
35. Uttarakhand 298 270 28
36. West Bengal and Andaman & 1105 863 242 Nicobar TOTAL 25,894 21,026 4,868
Source: Nyaya Vikas 2.0 Portal