Case pendency a ticking bomb

The Supreme Court has expressed alarm at criminal appeals in high courts pending for over three to four decades while seeking suggestions from the government to tackle it. Even the Attorney General has warned about the pendency in courts, terming it a 'hopeless situation'. Citing National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), he said that around 40 million cases are pending before district courts and approximately 4.2 million civil cases and 1.6 million criminal cases in the high courts (HCs).

The alarming NDJG data shows that, on average, around three lakh civil cases and about seven lakh criminal cases are listed every day in district courts. On the other hand, the disposal rate is only 40% in district courts. Slowing the course of justice, pendency has affected the judiciary the most. For instance, there are around two million pending criminal cases dating more than a year in district courts, while it is as high as 3 million when civil cases are included. Further, the data shows that around three million cases are 10-20 years old, while a considerable number of cases, about a lakh, are pending for as long as 30 years before the district courts.

The HCs, too, are burdened similarly; the total number of pending cases before them remain astonishingly large. Currently, there are around 5.9 million cases pending before all the HCs combined -- out of which 4.2 million cases are civil and 1.6 million are criminal cases. The age statistics before the high courts are a concern. There are 22%, 18% and 3% cases of the total pendency falling within the 5-10 years, 10-20 years and 20-30 years bracket respectively. At the same time, tens of thousands of cases were instituted more than 30 years ago and are still pending.

As of May 2, 2022, the SC had around 70,572 pending matters. It is also worth noting that the pendency of cases involving substantial questions of law is at an all-time high with a total of 494, while 54 are main matters, and around 440 are connected. According to a report, between 2010 and 2020, pendency grew by 2.8% annually compared to a low disposal rate. If no new cases are to be filed and only the pending cases are to be dealt with, it would still take around 1.3 years for the SC and three years for the high courts and subordinate courts to dispose of all the pending cases at the current disposal rate.

Pendency, an obstruction to justice?

So, how does delay in the disposal of cases affect the wheels of justice? Is it only about “justice delayed is justice denied”? Well, certainly not; the idea of high pendency discourages the litigants from knocking on the doors of courts even in desperate times. Remember the news last year? Vishnu Tiwari was acquitted of rape charges by the Allahabad HC after being incarcerated for 20 years in jail. Vishnu lost nothing less than everything, having spent 2 decades of his life in prison. He said, "I have been in jail for 20 years. Today I got Rs 600 from the jail administration. That is all I have."

Vishnu's agony is not an isolated event of miscarriage of justice. According to a report, the number of undertrials in prison is twice that of convicts. The slow wheels of justice affect the marginalised, women and senior citizens the most. Almost 3.5 million cases filed by women are pending before district courts, out of which 1.8 million are criminal cases and 2.6 million pending cases filed by senior citizens. Similarly, HCs suffer from a backlog of three lakh cases instituted by women and about five lakh cases filed by senior citizens.

Judicial vacancies

The law minister earlier informed in Parliament that the population-judge ratio of India is 21 judges per million people. The population is ever-growing, but the number of judges isn't. Considering the number of vacant judicial posts, creation of additional posts seems a distant possibility.

All the high courts combined have a total sanctioned strength of 1,104 judges, out of which 391 positions are vacant, amounting to 36% vacancy. HCs such as Allahabad, Patna and Rajasthan are working at half the strength. For instance, Rajasthan HC works at only 52% capacity with 26 judges posted and around 24 vacant positions. It is logical to conclude that the pendency is related to the vacancy, as HCs like Allahabad top the pendency list.

A straightforward solution could be decreasing the caseload per judge by appointing more judges. However, the appointment of judges in HCs is a lengthy and cumbersome procedure -- a key reason for vacancies. While the Chief Justice of India had made 180 recommendations, only 126 appointments were made.

According to the 2020 data, subordinate courts have 21% of posts vacant, plaguing the process of quick disposal. The SC took suo motu cognisance in re: Filling up of Vacancies (2018) of the high number of judicial vacancies in district courts. The case is still pending, while the SC has tagged Malik Mazhar Sultan vs UP Public Service Commission (2006), which directed the states to fill judicial vacancies on time.

The judiciary can resolve problems. The appointments to district courts lies with the respective state HCs. If the HCs ensure that the vacancies are minimal, the problem with the subordinate courts can be resolved with ease. The judiciary and government could expedite appointments to HCs. For a quick respite, however, the ball is still in the judiciary's court. Now, there is a need to speed up the appointment process. Pendency is a ticking bomb, which could only be defused with the synced attempts of the government and judiciary by planning short-term and long-term goals.

(The writer is with National Law University, Jabalpur)