In the High Courts of Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) and Calcutta (West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands), more than 63% of cases were pending for more than five years. , Photo credit: V Srinivasa Murthy
As of January 2, 2023, more than half of the cases in Indian High Courts are pending for more than five years. In the High Courts of Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) and Calcutta (West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands), more than 63% of cases were pending for more than five years. While the High Courts of Northeast India, including Tripura, Sikkim and Meghalaya, had less than 10% cases pending for more than five years, as per the latest release. India Justice Report 2022.
There is a demand and supply problem of pendency of cases in the courts. The number of cases filed in the courts is increasing every year while the number of judges presiding over those cases is either stagnant or not increasing with the increase in cases.
The total number of active cases in various High Courts to increase from 41 lakh in 2014 to 53 lakh in 2022. However, till December 2022, there were vacancies of judges in the High Courts in all major states. From a minimum of 16% vacancies for High Court judges in Jharkhand to a maximum of 48% vacancies in Rajasthan, the availability of judges was inadequate. Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have more than 40% vacancies of high court judges by December 2022. The total judicial vacancies in the Indian High Courts were 29.8% and the vacancies of the High Court staff were 25.6%.
This demand-supply imbalance meant that the case disposal rate of the High Courts was affected. Case disposal rate is the number of cases disposed of in a year, measured by the number of cases filed in that year. If courts resolve less than 100 out of every 100 cases they receive, the deficit contributes to the backlog, which in turn increases their pending caseload.
chart 1 Shows the case disposal rate for High Courts in different states over the past five years. For example, in India, for every 100 cases filed in 2022, only 95 cases were disposed of that year, a clearance rate of 95%, with 5% added as backlog. The rate was worse during the years of the pandemic: 83% in 2021 and 77% in 2020.
chart 1
Case disposal rate for High Courts in various states for the last five years. Figures are in %
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In 2022, the Rajasthan High Court’s clearance rate was only 65%, the only High Court with a rate below 70% last year. Among the major states, the Madras High Court stood out as the only court with a clearance rate of over 90% even during the pandemic years, rising to 107% in 2022.
chart 2 Comparison of average case clearance rate (%) over the last five years – vertical axis – against judge vacancy in High Courts (%) by December 2022 – horizontal axis. As can be seen from the chart, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh had an attrition rate of around 80% or less, with more than 40% judge vacancies.
chart 2
Case clearance rate (%) over the last five years against judge vacancy in High Courts (9%) by December 2022
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In Tripura and Manipur, although there was a relatively high vacancy (>40%), the withdrawal rate exceeded 100%, probably because new cases were in short supply.
There are courts where the vacancy was relatively less but the clearance rate was poor. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had similar vacancies but there was a huge difference in the exit rates. This again could be due to the difference in the volume of cases coming back.
Therefore, while vacancies of judges should be filled up quickly, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms should also be adopted to reduce the burden on the courts.
chart 3 Shows the average number of pending cases per high court judge in 2017 and 2022. In Rajasthan, due to very high vacancies and a poor attrition rate, each high court judge will have a backlog of about 24,000 cases by 2022, a huge jump from just over 7,000 cases each pending in 2017.
chart 3
Chart shows average number of pending cases per high court judge in 2017 and 2022
Source: India Justice Report 2022, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha replies
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