Lok Sabha Question No. 608 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Pending Court Cases
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: ANJU BALA, L.R. Shivaramegowda, Tejpratap Singh,Yadav, SRINIVAS KESINENI

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 608

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 06 TH  FEBRUARY, 2019.

## Pending Court Cases

## 608. SHRIMATI ANJU BALA:

SHRI L. R. SHIVARAME GOWDA: SHRI TEJ PRATAP SINGH YADAV: SHRI KESINENI NANI:

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

- (a)  whether  large  number  of  cases  are  pending  in  various  courts  across  the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, including number of cases pending in Supreme Court and High Courts during each of the last four years, State / Court-wise and the reasons therefor;
- (c)  the  sanctioned  strength  and  vacancies  of  Judges  in  such  courts  and  action taken to fill these vacancies at the earliest;
- (d) whether Government has taken note of delay in delivery of justice to litigants for various reasons;
- (e)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  corrective  measures  taken  by  the Government for expeditious disposal of cases pending in various courts in the country;
- (f) whether the arrears committee formed by Supreme Court and High Courts have failed to solve the problem of pendency if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government to facilitate faster disposal of cases; and
- (g) whether Government is going ahead with its proposal of bringing in National level exam conducted by UPSC to appoint judges in lower judiciary and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

- (a)  &  (b):  The  details  of  cases  pending  in  the  Supreme  Court  and  High  Courts  of  the country during the last four years are given below:

| Court         | Number of Cases Pending during last four years   | Number of Cases Pending during last four years   | Number of Cases Pending during last four years   | Number of Cases Pending during last four years   |
|---------------|--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
|               | 2015                                             | 2016                                             | 2017                                             | 2018                                             |
| Supreme Court | 59,272                                           | 62,537                                           | 55,588                                           | 56,994 (As on 01.12.2018)                        |
| High Courts   | 38,70,373                                        | 40,15,147                                        | 42,44,907                                        | 42,45,775 (As on 31.01.2019)                     |

High  Court-wise  details  of  pending  cases  as  on  31.01.2019  are  given  in  a statement at Annexure .

(c) :Court-wise details of Sanctioned strength, working strength and vacancies of Judges / Judicial Officers as on 31.01.2019 are as below:

| Court         | Sanctioned Strength   |   Working Strength |   Vacancies |
|---------------|-----------------------|--------------------|-------------|
| Supreme Court | 31                    |                 28 |           3 |
| High Courts   | 1,079                 |                679 |         400 |

Filling  up  of  vacancies  in  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  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  the  High  Courts  vests with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court. While every effort is made to fill up the  existing  vacancies  expeditiously,  vacancies  in  High  Courts  keep  on  arising  on account  of  retirement,  resignation  or  elevation  of  Judges  (to  the  Supreme  Court)  and also due to 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  the  High  Courts  and  State Governments  concerned.    In  so  far  as  recruitment  of  judicial  officers  in  the  States  is concerned, in certain States recruitment is done by the High Courts, whereas in other States, the recruitment is done by High Courts in consultation with State Public Service Commission.

During the Chief Justice's Conference held in 2016 it was, inter-alia, resolved that the Chief Justices shall take  effective steps  in coordination with the State Governments to ensure an increase in the cadre strength of the District and Subordinate Courts commensurate with the needs of their states in compliance with the judgment of the  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  in  Brij  Mohan  Lal versus Union  of  India,  and  will  ensure compliance  with  the  time  schedule  and  directions  laid  down  in  the  judgment  of  the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Malik Mazhar Sultan case (2006).  It was also resolved that the  Chief  Justices  shall,  in  particular,  ensure  that  the  Selection  and  Appointment

Committees in the High Courts periodically monitor the process of filling up of vacancies in the District and Subordinate Courts.

In  September,  2016,  the  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  wrote  to  Chief Justices of all  the  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.  The filling up of vacancies is also being monitored by the Supreme Court in a suo-motu writ petition (civil) no. 2 of 2018.

A series of meetings were also held 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.

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.

(d) & (e) : Timely disposal of cases in courts depends on several factors which, inter-alia, include  availability  of  adequate  number  of  judges,  supporting  court  staff  and  physical infrastructure,  complexity  of  facts  involved,  nature  of  evidence,  co-operation  of  stake holders viz. bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants and proper application of rules and procedures.  No time frame has been prescribed for disposal of various kinds of cases by the respective courts.

The Government is, however, fully committed to speedy disposal of cases. 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 posts of Judges in High Courts and Supreme Court.  The major achievements during the last four 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.6,662.36 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, Rs. 3,218.06 crores (which are 48.30% 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 18,796 as on date and number of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 16,652  as  on  date  under  this  scheme.    In  addition,  2,925  court  halls  and  1,756 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  to  2018.    New  and  user-friendly  version  of  Case  Information  Software  has been  developed  and  deployed  at  all  the  computerized  District  and  Subordinate Courts.    QR  Code  facility  has  been    made  operational  in  the  software,  which enables  checking of 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  10.99  crore  cases including more than three crore pending cases and more than 8.21 crore orders / judgments are 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 has 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 the  country.

## (iii)  :  Filling  up  of  vacant  positions  in  Supreme  Court,  High  Courts  and  District  and Subordinate Courts:

From 01.01.2014 to 31.12.2018, 27 Judges were appointed in Supreme Court. 446 new Judges were appointed and 379 Additional Judges were made permanent in the High Courts. Sanctioned strength of Judges of High Courts has also 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             |
| 31.12.2018 | 22,833                | 17,701             |

- (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 24 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) Nyaya Mitra Scheme: In order to reduce cases pending in courts for over 10 years, the  Government  launched  the  Nyaya  Mitra  Scheme  in  April  2017.    Under  the Scheme, retired  judicial  officers  are  engaged  and  designated  as  ' Nyaya Mitra '  to facilitate  expeditious  disposal  of  the  cases  pending  over  10  years.    In  the  first phase,  15  Nyaya  Mitra  have  been  engaged  in  15  Districts  of  Rajasthan,  West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura.
- (vi) Emphasis on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018 has  been  enacted  on 20 th August, 2018  whereby  mandatory  pre-Institution mediation mechanism has been introduced for settlement of commercial disputes.

Amendment  to  the  Arbitration  and  Conciliation  Act,  1996  by  the  Arbitration  and Conciliation  (Amendment)  Act  2015  has  been  made  to  expedite  the  speedy resolution  of  disputes  by  prescribing  timelines.  The  Arbitration  and  Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018 passed by the Lok Sabha on 10.08.2018 seeks to set up Arbitration  Council  of  India  (ACI)  to inter-alia grade  arbitral  institutions,  accredit arbitrators and impart training and award certificate in the ADR field.

- (vii)  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, 708  such  Fast  Track  Courts  are  functioning  across  the  country.  To  fast  track criminal cases involving elected MPs / MLAs, twelve (12) Special Courts have been 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 Offices Act, 2012.

(f)  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.

Following  this  Conference,  the  Department  of  Justice  had  written  to  the Registrars General of all the High Courts requesting them to appraise the Government of the steps being taken towards implementation of the resolution passed  in the Conference.  Pendency in courts depends on several factors which, inter-alia,  include availability of adequate number of judges, supporting court staff and physical infrastructure,  complexity  of  facts  involved,  nature  of  evidence,  co-operation  of  stake holders viz. bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants and proper application of rules and procedures.

(g):  The  appointment  of  Judges  and  Judicial  Officers  in  the  District  and  Subordinate Courts falls within the domain of the High Courts and State Governments concerned in which the Central Government has no role.  However, 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 certain options to the Hon'ble Supreme Court for creation of a Central Selection Mechanism.  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.  The above matter is subjudice at present.

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Annexure Statement  referred  to  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  608  for  reply  on  06 th February, 2019 regarding Pending Court Cases Number of cases pending in High Courts as on 31.01.2019 (as per NJDG Data)

| S. No.   | High Court Name                       |   Number of Cases pending as per NJDG Data |
|----------|---------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Allahabad High Court                  |                                     726260 |
| 2        | Calcutta High Court                   |                                      20684 |
| 3        | Gauhati High Court                    |                                      40967 |
| 4        | High Court of Bombay                  |                                     267809 |
| 5        | High Court of Chhattisgarh            |                                      63305 |
| 6        | High Court of Delhi                   |                                      74526 |
| 7        | High Court of Gujarat                 |                                     115066 |
| 8        | High Court of Himachal Pradesh        |                                      36673 |
| 9        | High Court of Jammu and Kashmir       |                                      79567 |
| 10       | High Court of Jharkhand               |                                      88340 |
| 11       | High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad |                                     363146 |
| 12       | High Court of Karnataka               |                                     239293 |
| 13       | High Court of Kerala                  |                                     191446 |
| 14       | High Court of Madhya Pradesh          |                                     333905 |
| 15       | High Court of Manipur                 |                                       4772 |
| 16       | High Court of Meghalaya               |                                       1099 |
| 17       | High Court of Punjab And Haryana      |                                     373199 |
| 18       | High Court of Rajasthan               |                                     449052 |
| 19       | High Court of Sikkim                  |                                        262 |
| 20       | High Court of Tripura                 |                                       2980 |
| 21       | High Court of Uttarakhand             |                                      56362 |
| 22       | Madras High Court                     |                                     401770 |
| 23       | Orissa High Court                     |                                     161412 |
| 24       | Patna High Court                      |                                     153880 |
|          | Total Cases                           |                                    4245775 |

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