New Delhi: Over 4.7 crore cases are pending before the courts across the country, the government said in Parliament on Thursday. The Ministry of Law and Justice while replying to a question in Rajya Sabha said that there are a total of 4,79,97,124 cases pending in the courts across India.
Of them, 72,062 cases are pending before the Supreme Court as of July 1, 2022. As for high courts, 59,45,709 cases are pending before them as of July 15. Similarly, 4,19,79,353 cases pending before the district and subordinate courts in the country till July 15. "No time frame has been prescribed for disposal of various kinds of cases by the respective courts. Government has no direct role in the disposal of cases in court," stated the government.
The judiciary and the government have often been seen at loggerheads with each other or blaming each other when it comes to the huge backlog of cases. Recently, while attending the All India Legal Services Authorities Meet, CJI NV Ramana said that judges and officers work extra hours. He had said that the government needs to take action on filling up the vacancies and providing infrastructure to deal with the pendency of cases.
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He had also expressed his disappointment over the government not taking the suggestion of setting up a Judicial Infrastructure Authority. Currently, there are more than 5,000 vacancies for Judicial officers in the district and subordinate courts, 381 vacancies for High Court judges, and 2 vacancies for Supreme court judges. For better efficiency of the judiciary, Attorney General of India, KK Venugopal, has often suggested that the retirement age of judges be increased so their expertise can be utilised better in dealing with cases.
Former SC judge, Justice LN Rao in his retirement speech earlier this year, had also said that by the time a judge understands the working of the top court, he or she retires. He had suggested that a minimum of 7-8 years of tenure should be fixed for the top court judges so they can serve better. A question regarding this was also raised in Rajya Sabha to which Law minister, Kiren Rijju replied that there was no such proposal to increase the age.
"The Constitution (114th Amendment) Bill was introduced in 2010 to increase the retirement age of High Court judges to 65. However, it was not taken up for consideration in Parliament and lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok sabha," read the law ministry's response. In a separate question regarding the expenditure on the Indian judiciary, the law ministry said that a total of 692.13 crores have been spent on improving the infrastructure of courts including gram nyayalayas. And for eCourts project, Rs 39.96 crores have been spent.
