Lok Sabha Question No. 5553 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-27
Subject: Current Number of Pending Cases in Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Dr. Prabha Mallikarjun

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5553 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 27 TH  MARCH, 2026

## CURRENT NUMBER OF PENDING CASES IN COURTS

## 5553. DR. PRABHA MALLIKARJUN:

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

- (a) the current number of pending cases in the Supreme Court, High Courts, and subordinate courts and the average duration of cases pending beyond standard timelines, State-wise;

(b)  the  measures  undertaken  by  the  Government  to  expedite  disposal  of  cases,  including digitization of court processes, e-courts and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms;

(c) the initiatives taken to strengthen judicial infrastructure, including recruitment of judges, capacity building and modernizing court facilities; and

(d) the future plans proposed to further reduce case backlog, improve access to justice and enhance transparency and efficiency in the judicial system?

## 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): As  per  information  available  on  the  National  Judicial  Data  Grid  (NJDG),  the current number of pending cases in the Supreme Court, High Courts and subordinate courts, State-wise is at Annexure I & II . However, the information regarding average duration of cases pending is not centrally maintained.

(b) to (d): The disposal of the cases is within the exclusive domain of judiciary. However, the Government  is  fully  committed  for  speedy  disposal  of  cases  and  reducing  pendency  as mandated under Article 21 of the Constitution. The Government has taken several initiatives to provide an ecosystem for faster disposal of cases by the judiciary which, inter-alia, includes amalgamation of latest technologies for increasing access to justice and greater transparency under the  e-Courts  Mission  Mode  Project  and  supplementing  of  the  resources  of  the  State Governments/UTs  for providing suitable infrastructure facilities for the District and Subordinate Judiciary under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary.

- i. The  Government  has  demonstrated  its  commitment  in  modernizing  judiciary  with advanced  digital  infrastructure  by  significantly  increasing  the  budget  of  Phase  III (2023-2027)  to  ₹7,210  crore.  This  phase  envisions  transforming  Indian  courts  into Digital and Paperless Courts by digitizing legacy and current case records, expanding video conferencing to all courts, jails, and hospitals, and extending online courts beyond traffic violations. It also aims for universal saturation of eSewaKendras, creation of a state-of-the-art  cloud-based  data  repository  for  storing  digitized  court  records  and applications, and deployment of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for case analysis and forecasting.
- ii. Currently, over 660.36 crore  pages of court  records have been digitized, and 2,444 eSewaKendras have been established to enhance citizen service delivery. Courts have conducted over 3.97 crore hearings through video conferencing facilities. Approximately  1.07  cr.  cases  have  been  filed  electronically  through  the  eFiling platform. Live streaming of court proceedings has expanded to four additional High Courts, Uttarakhand, Calcutta, Telangana, and Meghalaya, making it 11. All eCourts portals are now hosted on the NIC's cloud infrastructure, and district court websites have  been  migrated  to  the  Secure,  Scalable,  and  Sugamya  Website  as  a  Service (S3WAAS) platform.
- iii. The Digital Justice System under the e-Courts Mission Mode Project has expedited and simplified judicial processes and has also improved transparency and accessibility in the justice delivery system.
- iv. 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, Rs. 770.53 crore were allocated and Rs. 629.66 crore were utilized for judicial infrastructure development across the country.
- v. The Government has been filling up vacancies of Judges in the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts from time to time. From 01.05.2014 to 28.02.2026, 72 Judges have been  appointed  in  the  Supreme  Court.  1164  new  Judges  were  appointed  and  820 Additional Judges were made permanent in the High Courts during the same period. The sanctioned strength of Judges of the High Courts has increased from 906 in May, 2014 to 1122 till date.
- vi. Arrears Committees have been set up in all 25 High Courts and the District Courts as well to clear cases pending for more than five years.
- vii. The Government has also amended The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018, The Commercial  Courts (Amendment)  Act, 2018, The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018, The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 and The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2018 with a view to reduce pendency.
- viii. Alternate Dispute Resolution methods have been promoted. The Commercial Courts Act,  2015  was  amended  in  August,  2018  making  Pre-institution  Mediation  and Settlement  (PIMS)  mandatory  in  case  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.
- ix. Lok Adalat is an important Alternative Disputes Resolution Mechanism available to common  people,  where  the  disputes/  cases  pending  in  the  court  of  law  or  at  prelitigation  stage  are  settled/  compromised  amicably.   Under  The  Legal  Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987, an award made by a Lok Adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties and no appeal lies against it before any court. National Lok Adalats are organized simultaneously in all Taluks, Districts and High Courts on a pre-fixed date.
- x. Further, the Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice, has framed the 'Directive for the Efficient and Effective Management of Litigation by Government of India', which is an integrated approach in reinforcing the goal of good governance and ensuring  public  welfare  and  timely  dispensation  of  justice.  The  Directive  seeks  to introduce effective measures to simplify legal processes, prevent unnecessary litigation, address  inconsistencies  in  notifications  and  orders,  minimize  unwarranted  appeals, streamline inter-departmental coordination in litigation, ensure greater public accountability in arbitration matters, and establish a strong Knowledge Management System  (KMS)  to  improve  overall  efficiency.    The  Department  of  legal  Affairs,

Ministry of Law and Justice has also developed the Legal Information Management and  Briefing  System  (LIMBS),  a  web-based  portal  designed  to  effectively  monitor court cases involving the Union of India.  These measures are to proactively take action towards disposal of all pending court cases.

****

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  5553  FOR  ANSWER  ON  27.03.2026  REGARDING  'CURRENT NUMBER OF PENDING CASES IN COURTS'

Pending cases in Supreme Court and High Courts, as on 23.03.2026

| Supreme Court of India   | Supreme Court of India            | 92,782    |
|--------------------------|-----------------------------------|-----------|
| Sr No.                   | Name of High Court                |           |
| 1                        | Allahabad High Court              | 12,26,330 |
| 2                        | Bombay High Court                 | 6,61,117  |
| 3                        | Calcutta High Court               | 2,04,056  |
| 4                        | Gauhati High Court                | 64,594    |
| 5                        | High Court for State of Telangana | 2,36,629  |
| 6                        | High Court of Andhra Pradesh      | 2,48,497  |
| 7                        | High Court Of Chhattisgarh        | 75,698    |
| 8                        | High Court of Delhi               | 1,26,567  |
| 9                        | High Court of Gujarat             | 1,73,544  |
| 10                       | High Court of Himachal Pradesh    | 1,04,305  |
| 11                       | High Court of Jammu and Kashmir   | 43,401    |
| 12                       | High Court of Jharkhand           | 72,517    |
| 13                       | High Court of Karnataka           | 3,31,468  |
| 14                       | High Court of Kerala              | 2,47,843  |
| 15                       | High Court of Madhya Pradesh      | 4,76,166  |
| 16                       | High Court of Manipur             | 6,054     |
| 17                       | High Court of Meghalaya           | 1,795     |
| 18                       | High Court of Punjab and Haryana  | 4,18,842  |
| 19                       | High Court Of Rajasthan           | 6,75,503  |
| 20                       | High Court of Sikkim              | 301       |
| 21                       | High Court of Tripura             | 1,385     |
| 22                       | High Court of Uttarakhand         | 60,951    |
| 23                       | Madras High Court                 | 5,55,779  |
| 24                       | Orissa High Court                 | 1,63,660  |
| 25                       | Patna High Court                  | 2,18,570  |
|                          | Total                             | 63,95,572 |

Source: National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  5553  FOR  ANSWER  ON  27.03.2026  REGARDING  'CURRENT NUMBER OF PENDING CASES IN COURTS'

Pending cases in Subordinate Courts, as on 23.03.2026

| Sr No.   | State                                        | Total       |
|----------|----------------------------------------------|-------------|
| 1        | Andaman and Nicobar                          | 8,667       |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh                               | 9,23,640    |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh                            | 15,600      |
| 4        | Assam                                        | 5,78,163    |
| 5        | Bihar                                        | 37,09,244   |
| 6        | Chandigarh                                   | 99,845      |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh                                 | 4,62,014    |
| 8        | Delhi                                        | 16,86,426   |
| 9        | Goa                                          | 61,780      |
| 10       | Gujarat                                      | 15,60,074   |
| 11       | Haryana                                      | 14,90,023   |
| 12       | Himachal Pradesh                             | 5,98,819    |
| 13       | Jammu and Kashmir                            | 3,52,352    |
| 14       | Jharkhand                                    | 5,71,746    |
| 15       | Karnataka                                    | 22,61,280   |
| 16       | Kerala                                       | 17,91,465   |
| 17       | Ladakh                                       | 1,629       |
| 18       | Lakshadweep                                  | 567         |
| 19       | Madhya Pradesh                               | 20,91,722   |
| 20       | Maharashtra                                  | 59,61,061   |
| 21       | Manipur                                      | 14,191      |
| 22       | Meghalaya                                    | 16,671      |
| 23       | Mizoram                                      | 7,318       |
| 24       | Nagaland                                     | 3,946       |
| 25       | Odisha                                       | 18,16,722   |
| 26       | Puducherry                                   | 36,414      |
| 27       | Punjab                                       | 9,25,788    |
| 28       | Rajasthan                                    | 25,96,147   |
| 29       | Sikkim                                       | 2,319       |
| 30       | Tamil Nadu                                   | 17,59,825   |
| 31       | Telangana                                    | 9,90,868    |
| 32       | The Dadra And Nagar Haveli And Daman And Diu | 8,285       |
| 33       | Tripura                                      | 56,318      |
| 34       | Uttar Pradesh                                | 1,19,49,059 |
| 35       | Uttarakhand                                  | 3,01,345    |
| 36       | West Bengal                                  | 39,22,188   |
|          | Total                                        | 4,86,33,521 |

Source: National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)