ABSTRACT
The Indian judiciary, a cornerstone of the world’s largest democracy, faces an unprecedented backlog of cases threatening its efficacy and public trust. The Indian judiciary, with its complex structure and immense workload, plays a crucial role in upholding the rule of law and delivering justice. However, it has been plagued by a significant backlog of cases, which undermines its effectiveness and credibility. As of recent estimates, millions of cases are pending across various courts, leading to delays that can span decades. This research explores innovative and practical solutions to tackle the significant challenges leading to the backlog of cases in the Indian judiciary. The paper humbly attempts to identify and analyse the primary reasons that contributed to the backlog of cases in the Indian Courts including issues related to its system, procedure, and availability of resources. It will also examine and review the effectiveness and challenges of the existing reforms that have been implemented to address the backlog of cases in India. The research further proposes efficacious solutions tailored to the Indian context, focusing on areas such as technology integration, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, judicial resource allocation, procedural reforms, and administrative improvements.
The study seeks to offer a comprehensive approach to enhancing judicial efficiency and ensuring timely justice in the Indian Judiciary. This research aims to delve into the current judicial scenario in India which is best defined in the words of Mr. Paswan who remarked: “A cry for justice turned into a lifelong nightmare for us.” In a vast nation with no shortage of intractable problems, it is one of the longest-running and most far-reaching: India’s staggeringly overburdened judicial system. The study will focus on the persistent issue of case backlog in Indian courts by mentioning the foremost causes that led to such problems in Indian society namely inadequacy of judicial officers, paucity of infrastructure, endless adjournments, prolonged procedures, etc., and proposes solutions to address this challenge.
KEYWORDS: Case backlog, Court Administration, Judicial efficiency, Legal innovation, Policy recommendations.
INTRODUCTION
The famous quote of George Washington over two centuries old is still valid and says: “The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of government.” The current judicial scenario in India does not live up to this aphorism in a number of its manifestations.[1] In a written reply, Rajya Sabha was informed by the Former Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal that cases pending in various courts in the country have crossed the five-crore mark. He elaborated that over 5.02 crore cases were pending in multiple courts — the Supreme Court, the twenty-five high courts, and subordinate courts. He further stated that: “as per data retrieved from the Integrated Case Management System (ICMIS) by the Supreme Court of India, as of July 1, 69,766 cases are pending in the Supreme Court. The total number of cases pending in the high courts and the district and subordinate courts as of July 14 are 60,62,953 and 4,41,35,357 respectively, as per information made available on National Judicial Data Grid (hereinafter mentioned as ‘NJDG’).”[2] The Union Law Ministry had stated that there are over 4,43,92,136 pending cases in various District and Subordinate Courts across the country, as of July 24. In these pending cases around 1 Lakh cases are more than thirty years old. The highest number of pendency is in Uttar Pradesh which is over 1 Crore i.e. 1,16,35,286. The highest number of cases are pending in Allahabad, followed by Bombay, Rajasthan, and Madras. The highest number of vacancies lies in Allahabad High Court, where 65 seats are awaiting the appointment of Judges. Over 341 seats are vacant in the High Courts of the country.[3]
The NJDG mentions that the total number of pending cases in the Supreme Court in India is 83,022 where 65,188 are civil cases and 17,834 are criminal cases. It also states that the total number of cases pending in the High Courts of India is 59,58,272 from which 43,33,771 cases are civil and 16,24,501 are criminal cases. It further states that the total number of pending cases in the District and Taluka Courts of India is 4,50,50,931, where 1,09,74,964 are civil cases and 3,40,75,967 are criminal cases.[4] Over 10,000 cases were added to the Supreme Court’s pendency list in the last five months, from 69,766 cases as of July 1 to 80,040 on December 1. It had taken three years, from March 2020 to July 2023, to add 10,000 cases to the SC pendency. Law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal told Lok Sabha that the 25 High Courts had more than 61.7 lakh cases pending. In contrast, District and Subordinate Courts had over 4.4 crore cases, taking the total pendency in all courts in the country to over 5 crore cases.[5]
Mr. Paswan said: “A cry for justice turned into a lifelong nightmare for us.” In a vast nation with no shortage of intractable problems, it is one of the longest-running and most far-reaching: India’s staggeringly overburdened judicial system. Judges churn through scores of cases daily, many of them nuisance filings by the government or citizens. Quick hearings lead to adjournments and the backlog grows. India’s government would seem to have a direct interest in easing the delays, it is the country’s biggest litigant, accounting for nearly 50 percent of pending cases; but successive administrations have used the courts’ vulnerability as a political weapon. Fights between the judiciary and the executive branch over judicial appointments have reached new heights under the country’s current leader, Narendra Modi, who critics say has largely cowed the courts as he consolidates power across India’s institutions. The Supreme Court remains a last resort for justice, but its judges are often bogged down by less consequential matters like marriage or property disputes. When they do rule, the judges are increasingly seen as favouring the government, which has showered retirement perks on jurists who appear to toe the line, experts say.[6]
In practice, this backlog means that many important questions of law do not receive timely answers. Important constitutional law cases where many of them relating to citizens’ fundamental rights have been pending for years or even decades. In criminal cases, delays create great hardships, as the accused, many in jail, often must wait years for a verdict. Pendency also makes economic activity difficult, as contract enforcement becomes exorbitantly expensive. According to the 2020 edition of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings, India ranked 163 (out of 190 countries) on contract enforcement. Delays in India’s judiciary system is not restricted to the courts; pendency is also an endemic problem in India’s specialized tribunals. Following the liberalization of the Indian economy in the early 1990s, statutory tribunals began to proliferate across economic sectors, yet their performance leaves much to be desired. For instance, the National Company Law Tribunal (hereinafter mentioned as ‘NCLT’) is a high-profile panel responsible for resolving India’s debt problem. Academics and practitioners of law have regularly highlighted the NCLT’s weak and inadequate infrastructure. In recent years, these structural shortcomings have meant that the tribunal has been unable to adhere to the time limits mandated by the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, stymying this landmark reform effort intended to provide an exit route for failing firms. A recent report by Alvarez and Marsal, a management consultancy, notes that the NCLT admitted approximately 480 cases in each quarter in the 2020 fiscal year. If the NCLT continues at this pace, it will take six years to clear the backlog.[7]
The pendency of cases in courts is a demand and supply problem. The number of cases filed in courts is increasing each year while the number of judges presiding over those cases is either stagnant or not increasing in tandem with the rise in cases.[8] The confidence of the citizenry in the judiciary has taken a hammering with dwindling reliability and dependability thereon bringing in its wake heightened social, political, and economic tensions. There is an urgent need to make the judicial system ‘five plus free’ i.e. free of cases over five years old and to shorten the average life cycle of all cases to bring about the average to no more than about one year in each court.[9] Given the prevailing scenario, a World Bank report has referred to the Indian judiciary as ‘notoriously inefficient.’[10]The Preamble of the Indian constitution has placed justice in the form of social, economic, and political levels on the highest pedestal above all other basic structures. Delay of justice is not the simple postponement of an action over some time but in its judicial meaning, it is an action in a process that has irreversible long-term consequences. This process with the progress of time slowly stealthily and silently kills justice.[11]
[1]Judiciary – A Crumbling Pillar of Indian Democracy? Speeding Up the Delivery of Justice in India, Discussion Paper, (May 2013, 10 AM), https://cuts-ccier.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Judiciary_a_crumbling_pillar_of_Indian_democracy-Speeding_up_delivery_of_justice_in_India.pdf.
[2]Cases Pending in Courts Cross 5-Crore Mark: Govt in Rajya Sabha, The Economic Times,(July 20, 2023, 10:10 AM), https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/cases-pending-in-courts-cross-5-crore-mark-govt-in-rajya-sabha/articleshow/101993830.cms?from=mdr.
[3]Aiman J. Chishti, over 4 Crore Cases Pending in Trial Courts; More Than 60 Lakh Backlogs in High Courts: Law Ministry, Live Law, (July 29, 2023, 10:15 AM), https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/over-4-crore-cases-pending-in-trial-courts-more-than-60-lakh-backlogs-in-high-courts-law-ministry-233926#:~:text=Aiman%20J.&text=In%20response%20to%20questions%20raised,more%20than%2030%20years%20old.
[4]Pending Dashboard, National Judicial Data Grid, (June 22, 2024, 10:20 AM), https://njdg.ecourts.gov.in/njdgnew/?p=main/pend_dashboard.
[5]Over 5 crore Court Cases Pending, Government Tells Lok Sabha,The Times of India, (December 16, 2023, 10:25 AM), https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/over-5-crore-court-cases-pending-government-tells-lok-sabha/articleshow/106032857.cms.
[6]Sameer Yasir, A Lifelong Nightmare’: Seeking Justice in India’s Overwhelmed Courts, The New York Times, (January 13, 2024, 10:30 AM), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/13/world/asia/india-judicial-backlog.html.
[7] Pratik Datta, Suyash Rai, How to Start Resolving the Indian Judiciary’s Long-Running Case Backlog, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, (September 9, 2021, 10:40 AM), https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/09/09/how-to-start-resolving-indian-judiciary-s-long-running-case-backlog-pub-85296).
[8]Data | Close to Half of Cases in HCs Pending for Over Five Years, The Hindu, (April 13, 2023, 11:00 AM), https://www.thehindu.com/data/data-close-to-half-of-cases-in-hcs-pending-for-over-five-years/article66716280.ece#:~:text=over%20five%20years.-,In%20the%20Allahabad%20(Uttar%20Pradesh)%20and%20Calcutta%20(West%20Bengal,pending%20for%20over%20five%20years.
[9]Supra Note 1 at 1
[10]Pendency and Vacancies in the Judiciary, PRS Legislative Research, (September 4, 2021, 11:10 AM), https://prsindia.org/policy/vital-stats/pendency-and-vacancies-in-the-judiciary#:~:text=As%20on%20September%201%2C%202021,had%20more%20than%2050%25%20vacancies.)
[11]Lawpedia, Judicial Delay in India, The Times of India, (February 20, 2023, 11:15 AM), https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/lawpedia/judicial-delay-in-india-50731/.