Lok Sabha Question No. 2506 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-26
Subject: Civil and Criminal Cases
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: CHANDRA PRAKASH JOSHI, BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO, SUMEDHANAND SARASWATI, NARANBHAI KACHHADIA, RAMDAS CHANDRABHANJI TADAS

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. †2506

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 26 th  DECEMBER, 2018.

Civil and Criminal Cases

†2506. SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH JOSHI:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARSWATI:

SHRI NARANBHAI KACHHADIYA:

SHRI RAMDAS C. TADAS:

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

- (a)  the  State-wise  details  of  the  present  number  of  criminal  and  civil  cases  in  the country;
- (b) the number of criminal and civil cases pending especially in Supreme Court and High Courts;
- (c)  the  number  of  cases  heard  in  Supreme  Court  and  High Courts  during  the  last three years along with the number of cases decided;
- (d) whether the Government has any scheme to speed up the judicial process; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b): State / UT-wise details of the present number of civil and criminal cases pending in  District  and  Subordinate  Courts  of  the  country  are  given  in  Statement  at Annexure . 46,860  civil  cases  and  10,134  criminal  cases  are  pending  in  the  Supreme  Court  as  on 01.12.2018.  In various High Courts, 24,38,561 Civil Cases, 13,26,794 Criminal Cases and 12,13,678 Writ Petitions are pending as on 21.12.2018.

- (c)  :  The  details  of  number  of  cases  disposed  in  the  Supreme  Court  and  various  High Courts during the last three years are given below:

| Court         |   Year | Number of Cases disposed   |
|---------------|--------|----------------------------|
| Supreme Court |   2015 | 82,092                     |
| Supreme Court |   2016 | 75,979                     |
| Supreme Court |   2017 | 63,053                     |
| High Courts   |   2014 | 17,34,542                  |
| High Courts   |   2015 | 15,80,911                  |
| High Courts   |   2016 | 15,39,315                  |

(d)  &  (e)  :  The  Government  is  committed  to  speedy  disposal  of  cases  and  reduction  in pendency of cases to improve access to justice in line with the mandate of the Preamble and Article 39A of  the  Constitution.  The  following  interventions  have  been  made  by  the Government during the last 4 years:

- 1)  Pursuant to the decisions taken in the Joint Conference of the Chief Ministers of the States and Chief Justices of the High Courts in 2015, Arrears Committee has been established  in  the  Supreme  Court,  all  24  High  Courts  and  District  Courts.  The progress made by the High Courts and subordinate judiciary in reducing pendency was  taken  up  for  consideration  again  in  the  Conference  of  Chief  Justices  of  High Courts held in April 2016, wherein it was resolved, inter alia , that all High Courts shall assign top most priority for disposal of cases which are pending for more than five years.
- 2)  In April, 2015, the Hon'ble Prime Minister had written to all Chief Ministers of States drawing  attention  to  the  pending  cases  in  courts  and  urging  them  to  utilise  the additional fiscal space provided in the form of enhanced tax devolution from 32% to 42%  as  recommended  by  the  14 th Finance  Commission  and  accepted  by  the Government, to improve the working of the judicial system and provide speedy justice in the country.
- 3)  In September, 2016, 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  judiciary  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 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 Supreme Court in the Malik Mazhar Sultan case.

Besides  taking  up  the  concern  of  pendency  of  cases  with  the  States  and  High Courts,  the  Government  has  simultaneously  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  [court  halls  and  residential units] for Judicial Officers of District and Subordinate Courts, leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for better justice delivery, filling up of vacant positions of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court, reduction  in pendency through follow up by Arrears  Committees  at  District,  High  Court  and  Supreme  Court  level,  emphasis  on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) and initiatives to fast track special type of cases.

***************

Annexure Statement referred to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2506 for reply on 26.12.2018 State-wise details of the present number of criminal and cases pending in District and Subordinate Courts

| Sl. No   | Name of States/UTs   |   Civil Cases |   Criminal Cases |    Total |
|----------|----------------------|---------------|------------------|----------|
| 1.       | A & N Island*        |             0 |                0 |        0 |
| 2.       | Andhra Pradesh       |        295060 |           228852 |   523912 |
| 3.       | Telangana            |        224388 |           291955 |   516343 |
| 4.       | Arunachal Pradesh*   |             0 |                0 |        0 |
| 5.       | Assam                |         64464 |           220993 |   285457 |
| 6.       | Bihar                |        375746 |          2093808 |  2469554 |
| 7.       | Chandigarh           |         17084 |            26456 |    43540 |
| 8.       | Chhattisgarh         |         54833 |           205422 |   260255 |
| 9.       | D & N Haveli         |          1257 |             1513 |     2770 |
| 10.      | Daman & Diu          |           945 |              929 |     1874 |
| 11.      | Delhi                |        187182 |           532120 |   719302 |
| 12.      | Goa                  |         21571 |            22631 |    44202 |
| 13.      | Gujarat              |        450956 |          1173367 |  1624323 |
| 14.      | Haryana              |        279663 |           446503 |   726166 |
| 15.      | Himachal Pradesh     |        116524 |           141734 |   258258 |
| 16.      | Jammu & Kashmir      |         70111 |            88953 |   159064 |
| 17.      | Jharkhand            |         59550 |           295121 |   354671 |
| 18.      | Karnataka            |        650064 |           632682 |  1282746 |
| 19.      | Kerala               |        334919 |           833035 |  1167954 |
| 20.      | Lakshadweep*         |             0 |                0 |        0 |
| 21.      | Madhya Pradesh       |        323545 |          1058735 |  1382280 |
| 22.      | Maharashtra          |       1181071 |          2377581 |  3558652 |
| 23.      | Manipur              |          5532 |             4362 |     9894 |
| 24.      | Meghalaya            |          1994 |             4757 |     6751 |
| 25.      | Mizoram              |          1529 |             2117 |     3646 |
| 26.      | Nagaland*            |             0 |                0 |        0 |
| 27.      | Odisha               |        253984 |           877101 |  1131085 |
| 28.      | Punjab               |        255953 |           343079 |   599032 |
| 29.      | Rajasthan            |        403128 |          1111890 |  1515018 |
| 30.      | Sikkim               |           428 |              879 |     1307 |
| 31.      | Tamil Nadu           |        619648 |           477294 |  1096942 |
| 32.      | Puducherry*          |             0 |                0 |        0 |
| 33.      | Tripura              |          7640 |            15656 |    23296 |
| 34.      | Uttar Pradesh        |       1670383 |          5339766 |  7010149 |
| 35.      | Uttarakhand          |         34101 |           202940 |   237041 |
| 36.      | West Bengal          |        496028 |          1712813 |  2208841 |
| Total    | Total                |       8459281 |         20765044 | 29224325 |

$ Source: High Courts

$$ Source: NJDG Web portal.

*Note: Data on District and Subordinate Courts in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland , and Union Territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry are not available on the web-portal of NJDG. Data in respect of Andaman & Nicobar Islands as on 20.12.2018 is not available on NJDG Portal.