On CJI initiative, Supreme Court case backlog down by 2,174

New Delhi: The mounting arrears of cases has been a cause of concern for all courts in the country, including the Supreme Court (SC). Soon after the new Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra took over in August this year, a concerted effort to clear the backlog has resulted in reducing the pendency in the apex court to below 60,000.

According to a press note issued by the Registry at the time when Justice Misra took over, the total pendency in the SC were 57,774 cases.

In a short span of two months, the pendency has been reduced by 2,174 cases. It is significant to note that during the period of two months from August 28 to October 27, the institution of cases was 7,021, whereas the disposal during this period is 9,195 cases.     

With over 30 million cases pending in various courts across the country, the Indian judiciary is unable to clear the arrears, as vacancies of judges are not being filled on time. The inordinate delay in disposal of cases is the root cause of denial of access to justice to poor litigants. According to official figures, there are six vacancies in the SC, 24 high courts have nearly 500 vacant judges post and over 4000 at the subordinate courts.

Appointment to the SC and high courts are done by a collegium of judges headed by the Chief Justice of India and this system has been revived after the SC  quashed the national judicial appointments commission law.

The logjam in the finalisation of the Memorandum of Procedure by the Centre in consultation with the Chief Justice of India prompted the apex court on Friday to seek the assistance of the Attorney General K.K. Venugopal in resolving this stand off between the government and the SC collegium for nearly two years. It is quite unlikely that the situation will improve unless proper procedure and norms are put in place for selection of judges at the earliest.