New Delhi: The Supreme Court has over 24,000 cases pending for more than 5 years and over 8,000 cases pending for more than 10 years, Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal has told the Rajya Sabha.
Meghwal’s answer was in response to a question from AAP MP Sandeep Kumar Pathak, who sought to know about the number of bench-wise cases currently pending in the Supreme Court, the number of cases that came to the top court during the last five years, the number of cases decided in this period, and the steps taken by the government for speedy disposal of cases.
Citing data from the Supreme Court’s Integrated Case Management Information System (ICMIS), Meghwal said that the Supreme Court also had 204 cases that had been pending for over 20 years.
In a written reply on 20 July, he also listed down the number of cases filed and disposed of in the Supreme Court in the last five years. As per this data, the Supreme Court received 42,745 cases last year, and disposed of 36,436 cases. Similarly, this year, until 15 July, it has had 27,998 cases filed, and 25,959 cases disposed of.
Overall, the data showed that the Supreme Court consistently has had a greater inflow of cases every year than it has managed to dispose of.
Incidentally, a study published in a book, ‘Court on Trial’, by PenguinIndia in July had found that a whopping 39.57 percent cases in the apex court were pending for more than five years, and an additional 7.74 percent cases were pending for more than ten years as of November 2018, reinforcing the fact that delays are not just a problem of lower courts in India.
Meghwal claimed that the government has been regularly filling up vacancies in the higher judiciary. He said that from 1 May 2014 to 10 July 2023, 56 judges have been appointed in the Supreme Court, 919 in the high courts, and 653 additional judges were made permanent in the high courts. The sanctioned strength of high courts has been increased from 906 in May 2014 to 1,114, he added.
As per the government data, the sanctioned strength of judicial officers in district and subordinate courts was raised from 19,518 in 2013 to 25,246 this year. Similarly, the working strength of judges in lower courts has increased from 15,115 in 2013 to 19,858 this year.
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‘Have been filling up judicial vacancies’
Regarding the steps taken to bolster judicial infrastructure, it said since the inception of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for development of infrastructure facilities for the judiciary in 1993-94, Rs 10,035 crore have been released to states/UTs for construction of court halls, residential quarters for judicial officers, lawyers’ halls, toilet complexes and digital computer rooms.
He also said that the number of court halls was up from 15,818 in June 2014 to 21,365 in June this year.
The minister’s response also spoke about IT enablement of district and subordinate courts as well. “The number of computerised district and subordinate courts has increased to 18,735 so far. WAN connectivity has been provided to 99.4 percent of court complexes. Video conferencing facility has been enabled between 3,240 court complexes and 1,272 corresponding jails,” he added.
Meghwal informed that 22 virtual courts were set up in 18 states and Union Territories, and as on 31 May this year, these courts have handled more than 3.113 crore cases and realised more than Rs. 408 crore in fines.
“E-courts Phase III is about to begin which intends to incorporate latest technology such as AI and block chain to make justice delivery more robust, easy and accessible to all the stakeholders,” it added.
Under the Fourteenth Finance Commission, Meghwal said, the government has established fast track courts for dealing with cases of heinous crimes, senior citizens, women and children. He said that as on 31 May this year, 832 fast track courts are functional.
“To fast track criminal cases involving elected MPs / MLAs, 10 Special Courts are functional in 9 States/UTs. Further, the central government has approved a scheme for setting up 1,023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) across the country for the expeditious disposal of pending cases of rape under IPC and crimes under POCSO Act. As on date, 28 States/UTs have joined the scheme,” the response added.
The minister explained that National Lok Adalats are organised simultaneously in all taluks, districts and high courts. He said that from 2021 up until 17 June this year, these lok adalats have managed to dispose of 6.8 crore pre-litigation cases and 2.2 crore pending cases.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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