Lok Sabha Question No. 2886 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-10
Subject: Pending Cases in Supreme Court
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Su Thirunavukkarasar, P. Ravindhranath, A. Ganeshamurthi, Rajendra Agrawal, Riti Pathak

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2886

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 10 TH  JULY, 2019.

## Pending Cases in Supreme Court

## 2886. SHRIMATI DARSHANA VIKRAM JARDOSH:

SHRI SU. THIRUNAVUKKARASAR:

SHRI P. RAVEENDRANATH KUMAR:

SHRI A. GANESHAMURTHI:

SHRI RAJENDRA AGRAWAL:

SHRIMATI RITI PATHAK:

## Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  a  large  number  of  court  cases  are  pending  in  Supreme  Court,  High Courts and various subordinate courts for more than a decade, if so, the details
- thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (b) the details of number of pending cases in which Government revenue is involved for the last three years;
- (c) whether the Government has formulated an action plan and requested respective High Courts to expedite the disposal of cases which are pending for more than ten years and if so, the details thereof;
- (d)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  appoint  more  judges  in  various  courts, including Supreme Court to dispose of these cases in a time-bound manner and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether setting up of benches of High Court at different locations in States is being  considered  for  the  purpose,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  if  not,  the
- reasons therefor?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) to (e): As per the information available 4,223 cases are pending in Supreme Court for more than 10 years and as per the data available on the web-portal of National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), 8.33 lakh cases are pending in High Courts and 25.10 lakh cases are pending District and Subordinate Courts for more than 10 years.

Pursuant to the Joint Conference of the Chief Ministers of the States and Chief Justices of the High Courts held in 2015, where it was resolved that all High Courts would constitute Arrears Committee, the then Minister of Law and Justice had written to the Chief Justices  of  the  High  Courts  requesting  them  to  appraise  the  Government  of  the  steps being taken by them to address the issue of pendency especially regarding cases pending for more than 5 years.  As per the available information, all High Courts have established Arrears Committees.  Progress made by the High Courts in reducing pendency was taken up for consideration again in the Conference of Chief Justices of High Courts held in April 2016.  Based on the reports submitted by the Arrears Committee of various High Courts, it was, inter-alia, resolved  that  (i)  all  the  High  Courts  shall  assign  top  most  priority  for disposal of cases which are pending for more than five years; (ii) High Courts where cases are  pending  for  more  than  five  years  shall  facilitate  their  disposal  in  mission  mode;  (iii) High Court shall progressively thereafter set a target of disposing of cases for more than four  years;  (iv)  While  prioritizing  the  disposal  of  cases  pending  in  the  district  courts  for more than five years, additional incentives for the Judges of the district judiciary could be considered  where  feasible;  and  (v)  Efforts  shall  be  made  for  strengthening  case-flow management rules.  It was further resolved that the Chief Justices of the High Courts will set up a Cell / Committee for monitoring the implementation of the resolutions passed in the  Chief  Justices  Conferences  and  each  High  Court  shall  create  a  mechanism  for submitting progress report to the Supreme Court.  Accordingly, Arrears Committees are functioning in all High Courts and in District Courts.

The  Government  is  fully  committed  to  speedy  disposal  of  cases  and  reducing pendency and has, in conjunction  with  the  judiciary,  taken  many  corrective  steps.    The Government has taken several initiatives to  provide an  ecosystem for faster  disposal of cases  by  the  judiciary.    The  National  Mission  for  Justice  Delivery  and  Legal  Reforms established  by  the  Government  has  adopted  a  coordinated  approach  for  phased liquidation  of  arrears  and  pendency  in  judicial  administration  through  various  strategic initiatives, including improving infrastructure for courts, leveraging Information and Communication  Technology  (ICT)  for  better  justice  delivery,  and  filling  up  of  vacant positions of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court.  The major achievements during the  last  five  years  under  various  initiatives  to  make  the  functioning  of  judiciary  more efficient are as follows:

- (i)  Improving infrastructure for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts: As on date,  Rs.6,986.50  crores  have  been  released  since  the  inception  of  the  Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in

1993-94.  Out of this, 3,542.20 crores (which are 50.70% of the total amount released till date) have been released to the States and UTs since April, 2014.  The number of court  halls  has  increased  from  15,818  as  on  30.06.2014  to  19,101  as  on  date  and number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 16,777 as on date under this scheme.  In addition, 2,879 court halls and 1,886 residential units are  under  construction.    The  Central  Government  has  approved  continuation  of  the Scheme beyond the 12 th Five Year Plan period i.e. from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020 with an estimated additional outlay of Rs.3,320 crore.

- (ii)  Leveraging  Information  and  Communication  Technology  (ICT)  for  improved  justice delivery:  Government  has  been  implementing  the  e-Courts  Mission  Mode  Project throughout the country for Information and Communication Technology enablement of district and subordinate courts.  Number of computerised District & Subordinate courts has increased from 13,672 to 16,845 registering an increase of 3,173 during 2014 till date.    New  and  user-friendly  version  of  Case  Information  Software  developed  and deployed  at  all  the  computerized  District  and  Subordinate  Courts.    QR  Code  facility made operational in the software, which enables to check current status of the case. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) provides citizens with online information about case filings,  case  status  and  electronic  copies  of  orders  and  judgments  from  district  and subordinate courts that have already been computerized.  Information regarding 11.67 crore  cases  is  available  on  this  portal.    eCourts  services  such  as  details  of  case registration,  cause  list,  case  status,  daily  orders  &  final  judgments  are  available  to litigants and advocates through eCourts web portal, Judicial Service Centres (JSC) in all computerised courts, eCourts Mobile App, email service, SMS push & pull services. Information Kiosks have been setup at all computerized court complexes  for disseminating  judicial information related to cause  lists  and  other  case  related information  to  the  lawyers  and  litigants.    eCourts  Project  has  been  consistently amongst the top 5 Mission Mode Projects of country.
- (iii)  :  Filling  up  of  vacant  positions  in  Supreme  Court,  High  Courts  and  District  and Subordinate Courts: From 01.05.2014 to 24.06.2019,  31 Judges were appointed in Supreme Court.  454 new Judges were appointed and 366 Additional Judges were made permanent in the High Courts.  Sanctioned strength of Judges of High Courts has  been  increased  from  906  in  May,  2014  to  1079  currently.    Sanctioned  and

working  strength  of  Judicial  Officers  in  District  and  Subordinate  Courts  has  been increased as follows:

| As on      | Sanctioned Strength   | Working Strength   |
|------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
| 31.12.2013 | 19,518                | 15,115             |
| 30.06.2019 | 23,199                | 17,757             |

- (iv) Reduction  in  Pendency  through  /  follow  up  by  Arrears  Committees:  Further,  in pursuance  of  resolution  passed  in  Chief  Justices'  Conference  held  in  April,  2015, Arrears Committees have been set up in High Courts to clear cases pending for more than  five  years.    Arrears  Committees  have  been  set  up  under  District  Judges  too. Arrears Committee has been constituted in the Supreme Court to formulate steps to reduce pendency of cases in High Courts and District Courts.
- (v) Emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (as amended on 20 th August,  2018)  stipulates  mandatory  pre-Institution  mediation  and settlement  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.
- (vi) Initiatives to Fast Track Special Type of Cases: The Fourteenth Finance Commission endorsed the proposal of the Government to strengthen the judicial system in States which included, inter-alia , establishing Fast Track Courts for cases of heinous crimes; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc ., and urged the State Governments to use the additional fiscal space provided in the form of enhanced tax devolution form 32% to 42% to meet such requirements. At present, 581 such Fast Track  Courts  are  functioning  across  the  country.    To  fast  track  criminal  cases involving elected MPs / MLAs, twelve (12) Special Courts were set up in eleven (11) States  (Andhra  Pradesh,  Telangana,  Kerala,  Karnataka,  Tamil  Nadu,  Maharashtra, Madhya  Pradesh,  Uttar  Pradesh,  Bihar,  West  Bengal  and  NCT  of  Delhi)  and proportionate  funds  have  been  released  to  these  States  by  the  Government.  The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 has been enacted on 11.08.2018 to amend the Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

Filling up of vacancies in the Supreme Court and High Courts is a continuous and collaborative  process,  between  the  Executive  and  the  Judiciary.  It  requires  consultation and approval from various Constitutional Authorities. Initiation of proposal for appointment of  Judges  in  the  Supreme  Court  vests  with  the  Chief  Justice  of  India,  while  initiation  of proposals for  appointment  of  Judges  in  High  Courts  vests  with  the  Chief  Justice  of  the High  Court  concerned.    While  every  effort  is  made  to  fill  up  the  existing  vacancies expeditiously,  vacancies  in  High  Courts  do  keep  on  arising  on  account  of  retirement, resignation or elevation of Judges and also the increase in the strength of Judges.

Further,  as  per  the  Constitutional  framework,  the  selection  and  appointment  of judges  in  subordinate  courts  is  the  responsibility  of  High  Court  and  State  Government concerned.  However,  following  steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Government  to  facilitate filling of vacancies in lower judiciary:-

- (i) In September, 2016, Union Minister of Law & Justice wrote to the Chief Ministers of States and the Chief Justices of High Courts to enhance the cadre strength of the District  and  Subordinate  Courts  and  provide  physical  infrastructure  to  the  State judiciary.  The same was reiterated in May, 2017.  In August, 2018, in the context of increasing pendency of cases, the Union Minister of Law & Justice has written to all Chief Justices of High Courts to monitor the Status of the vacancies regularly and to ensure proper coordination with the state Public Service Commission to fill up vacant posts  as  per  time  schedule  prescribed  by  the  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  in  the  Malik Mazhar Sultan case.
- (ii)  The filling up of vacancies is also being monitored by the Supreme Court in a suomotu Writ Petition (Civil) No. 2 of 2018.
- (iii)  A series of meetings were held by Secretary, Department of Justice with Registrars General  of  all  High  Courts  and  Law  Secretaries  of  all  State  Governments  /  UTs through Video  Conferencing  in  the  month  of  January,  2018,  July,  2018  and November, 2018 to follow  up  on  filling  up  posts  of  Judicial  Officers  in  District  and Subordinate Courts.
- (iv) The Department of Justice has hosted a web-portal on its website for reporting and monitoring of sanctioned and working strength, and vacancies of Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts on monthly basis.
- (v)  In order to facilitate regular filling up of these vacancies in a smooth and time-bound manner, the  Department of  Justice vide its  letter  dated  28 th April,  2017  suggested creation  of  a  Central  Selection  Mechanism  to  the  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court.  The

Hon'ble  Supreme  Court suo  motu converted  the  Government's  suggestions  into  a Writ Petition on 09 th May, 2017 and directed all State Governments (including Union Territories)  to  file  their  responses  and  suggestions  by  way  of  affidavits  to  the Supreme Court Registry.

High  Court  Benches  are  established  in  accordance  with  the  recommendations made by the Jaswant Singh Commission and judgment pronounced by the Apex Court in W.P.(C) No.379 of 2000 and after due consideration of a complete proposal from the State Government and the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court along with the consent of the Governor of the concerned State.  The State Government has to provide necessary infrastructural facilities to establish a Bench of the High Court away from its principal seat and to bear the entire expenditure of the High Court and its Bench. The Chief Justice of the High Court is required to look after the day-to-day administration of the High Court and its  Bench  and  depute  Judges  from  the  Principal  Seat  to  Bench  from  time-to-time.  It  is, therefore,  necessary  that  both  the  State  Government  and  the  High  Court  consider  the matter from all angles and arrive at a consensus.

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