Lok Sabha Question No. 1359 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-09
Subject: Special Courts for Disposal of Cases
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: M.K. Vishnu Prasad

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

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1359 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 9 TH  FEBRUARY, 2024

## SPECIAL COURTS FOR DISPOSAL OF CASES

1359. DR. VISHNU PRASAD M.K.:

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

- (a) the approximate number of cases pending in District Courts, High Courts and the Supreme Court of the country as on date, State and court-wise;
- (b) whether there has been a huge increase in thependency of cases in the above courts during the last four years and if so, the details thereof and reaction of the Government thereto;
- (c)  whether Government proposes to set up special courts for speedy disposal of pending cases in view of such huge pendency; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, thereasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE

## (SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

- (a): As per information available on National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), the pendency of cases across courts, as on 05.02.2024, is as follows:

|   S. No | Court                        | No. of Pending Cases   |
|---------|------------------------------|------------------------|
|       1 | Supreme Court                | 80,302                 |
|       2 | High Court                   | 62,09,926              |
|       3 | District &Subordinate Courts | 4,48,61,459            |

The detailed statement of pending cases in the respective High Courts and theDistrict Courts, State-wise, is given at Annexure-I and Annexure-II.

(b): The detailed Statement of pending cases showing the increase/decrease in such cases during the last four years for the various courts is as follows:

| Name of Court   | Pendency of Cases as on 31.12.2020   | Pendency of Cases as on 31.12.2023   | Increase/Decrease   |
|-----------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|---------------------|
| Supreme Court   | 65,086                               | 80,765                               | (+)15,679           |
| High Court      | 56,42,567                            | 62,12,375                            | (+)5,69,808         |
| District Court  | 3,66,39,436                          | 4,44,09,480                          | (+)77,70,044        |

Source: National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG).

The  expeditious  disposal  of  pending  cases  in courts is  within  the exclusive  domain  of  the  judiciary.  The  Central  Government  has  no  role  in  the said matter.

- (c) & (d): Presently, there are no proposals pending with the Government to set  up  special  courts  for  speedy  disposal  of  pending  cases.  Over  the  years,  the Ministry  of  Law  and  Justice  has  undertaken  several  initiatives,  to  provide  for setting  up  of  Special  Courts  in  order  to  facilitate  speedy  disposal  of  pending cases. The highlights of which are as under:-
- i. Under the aegis of the Fourteenth Finance Commission, the Government has established Fast Track Courts for dealing with cases of heinous crimes in expeditiously; cases involving senior citizens, women, children etc. As on  30.11.2023,  there  were  847  Fast  Track  Courts  functional  for  heinous crimes, crimes against women, and children.
- ii. Championing the cause of safety and security of women and girl child, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme was finalized in August, 2019 and launched for  setting  up  of  Fast  Track  Special  Courts  (FTSCs)  including  exclusive POCSO Courts across the country to dispose of around 1,67,000 cases of sexual offences pending as on 31.03.2018 in a time-bound manner.  As on 30.11.2023,  758  Fast  Track  Special  Courts  (including  411  e-POCSO Courts)  are  functional  in  30  States/UTs  across  the  country,  which  have disposed of more than 1,95,000 cases.
- iii. Special Courts for lawmakers in order to fast track criminal cases involving elected Members of Parliament (MPs) / Member of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), ten (10) Special Courts are functional in nine (9) States/UTs.
- iv. A  notable legislative reform undertaken for expeditious  commercial dispute resolution, is the enactment of The Commercial Courts Act, 2015, which provides for the establishment of Dedicated and Designated Commercial Courts for adjudication of commercial disputes. Through this specialized dispute resolution machinery it aims to transform the commercial  litigation  landscape  in  the  country  by  adopting  robust  and proactive  procedures  like  Case  Management  Hearing,  Automatic  and Random Allocation of Cases and several best practices such as e-filing, esummons, adherence to 3-adjournment rule in the Commercial Courts.
- v. As a part of the National eGovernance Plan, the Government has launched eCourts Mission Mode Project wherein 25 Virtual Courts in 20 States/UTs have been operationalized to handle traffic challan cases. More than 4.11 crore  cases  have  been  handled  by  these  virtual  courts  and  fine  of  Rs. 478.69 crores had been realized till 30.11.2023. These courts have enabled litigants  to  pay  their  fines  or  contest  to  the  claims  24X7  from  their preferred  location.  Thus,  saving  time  and  resources  for  both  the  court system and the litigants.
- vi. The  Family  Courts  Act,  1984  provides  for  the  establishment  of  Family Courts by the State Governments in consultation with the High Courts to promote conciliation and secure speedy settlement of disputes relating to marriage and family affairs. As per the Act, it is mandatory for the State Government  to  set  up  a  Family  Court  for  every  city  or  a  town  whose population  exceeds  one  million.  In  other  areas  of  the  States,  the  Family Courts may be set up if the State Governments deems it necessary. As on

30.11.2023, there were 776 Family Courts functional in the country which had disposed more than 7,44,700 cases.

- vii. The  Gram  Nyayalayas  were  established  with  the  enactment  of  Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 wherein Gram Nyayalayas were established in every Panchayat at an intermediate level or a group of contiguous Panchayats at the intermediate level or for a group of contiguous Gram Panchayats. Gram Nyayalayas have the solemn aim of providing inexpensive justice to people in rural areas at their doorstep. They try criminal cases, civil suits, claims or  disputes  which  are  specified  in  the  First  Schedule  and  the  Second Schedule to the Act. Additionally, the disputes are to be settled, as far as possible, by bringing about conciliation between the parties. There are 287 Gram Nyayalayas functional as against 477 Gram Nyayalayas notified.

******

Annexure-I STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1359 FOR ANSWER ON 09.02.2024 REGARDING 'SPECIAL COURTS FOR DISPOSAL OF CASES'. Pending Cases in High Courts as on 05.02.2024

| Sl. No.   | Name of High Court                | Pendency   |
|-----------|-----------------------------------|------------|
| 1         | Allahabad High Court              | 1073778    |
| 2         | Bombay High Court                 | 723671     |
| 3         | High Court Of Rajasthan           | 667451     |
| 4         | Madras High Court                 | 541226     |
| 5         | High Court of Madhya Pradesh      | 447266     |
| 6         | High Court of Punjab and Haryana  | 440853     |
| 7         | High Court of Karnataka           | 288478     |
| 8         | High Court of Kerala              | 255543     |
| 9         | High Court of Andhra Pradesh      | 249022     |
| 10        | High Court for State of Telangana | 248042     |
| 11        | Patna High Court                  | 198285     |
| 12        | Calcutta High Court               | 195073     |
| 13        | High Court of Gujarat             | 170671     |
| 14        | Orissa High Court                 | 146131     |
| 15        | High Court of Delhi               | 123561     |
| 16        | High Court of Himachal Pradesh    | 100640     |
| 17        | High Court Of Chhattisgarh        | 90807      |
| 18        | High Court of Jharkhand           | 83566      |
| 19        | Gauhati High Court                | 62792      |
| 20        | High Court of Uttarakhand         | 50983      |
| 21        | High Court of Jammu and Kashmir   | 44761      |
| 22        | High Court of Manipur             | 4715       |
| 23        | High Court of Tripura             | 1276       |
| 24        | High Court of Meghalaya           | 1151       |
| 25        | High Court of Sikkim              | 184        |
|           | TOTAL                             | 62,09,926  |

Source:-National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG).

## Annexure-II STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF LOK SABHA 09.02.2024

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1359 FOR ANSWER ON REGARDING 'SPECIAL COURTS FOR DISPOSAL OF CASES'.

## Pending Cases in District and Subordinate Courts as on 05.02.2024

| Sl. No.   | State/UTs           |   Pendency |
|-----------|---------------------|------------|
| 1         | Uttar Pradesh       |   11711349 |
| 2         | Maharashtra         |    5245503 |
| 3         | Bihar               |    3614171 |
| 4         | West Bengal         |    3012709 |
| 5         | Rajasthan           |    2338759 |
| 6         | Madhya Pradesh      |    2013105 |
| 7         | Karnataka           |    1978462 |
| 8         | Kerala              |    1852293 |
| 9         | Gujarat             |    1641149 |
| 10        | Odisha              |    1621785 |
| 11        | Haryana             |    1463088 |
| 12        | Tamil Nadu          |    1452359 |
| 13        | Delhi               |    1254506 |
| 14        | Telangana           |     919391 |
| 15        | Andhra Pradesh      |     869368 |
| 16        | Punjab              |     857618 |
| 17        | Himachal Pradesh    |     593051 |
| 18        | Jharkhand           |     549524 |
| 19        | Assam               |     459832 |
| 20        | Chhattisgarh        |     415374 |
| 21        | Uttarakhand         |     366242 |
| 22        | Jammu and Kashmir   |     290098 |
| 23        | Chandigarh          |     133970 |
| 24        | Goa                 |      57670 |
| 25        | Tripura             |      52236 |
| 26        | Puducherry          |      34291 |
| 27        | Meghalaya           |      16173 |
| 28        | Manipur             |      13332 |
| 29        | Andaman and Nicobar |       8766 |
| 30        | Arunachal Pradesh   |       6187 |
| 31        | Mizoram             |       5636 |
| 32        | DNH at Silvasa      |       4322 |
| 33        | Diu and Daman       |       3095 |
| 34        | Nagaland            |       2893 |
| 35        | Sikkim              |       1719 |
| 36        | Ladakh              |       1433 |
|           | TOTAL               |   44861459 |

Source: - National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG).