Editorial: Supreme Court’s laudable move to check pendency
The constitution of four special benches to hear the oldest pending cases is a welcome step towards reducing judicial backlog
One of the glaring lacunae of the Indian model of democracy is the excruciatingly slow justice delivery system, as reflected in the alarming rise in the pendency of cases over the decades. This legacy problem costs the country more than 2% of its GDP. As of early 2026, the number of pending cases had crossed a staggering 5.8 crore. District and subordinate courts alone account for close to 4.9 crore of these cases. The High Courts collectively carry over 60 lakh, while the Supreme Court is straining under the weight of over 96,000 pending matters, with civil disputes making up for most of the burden. A steady rise in arrears, regardless of the periodic increase in judicial strength, has been a constant phenomenon since Independence. Against this backdrop, the apex court’s latest initiative — constitution of four special benches to exclusively hear its oldest pending civil and criminal cases — is a welcome move that will go a long way in tackling one of the major problems confronting the judiciary. Chief Justice Surya Kant’s initiative marks a structured attempt to ensure the disposal of decades-old disputes pending before the apex court. The bulk of the older backlog lies in the 10–to-20–year bracket, which accounts for 7,993 civil cases and 1,585 criminal cases. According to the new roster notification, two division benches comprising two judges each will focus solely on the oldest civil cases. Two other division benches will be dedicated to the oldest criminal matters.
These special benches will operate on “non-miscellaneous days” which are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. In the Supreme Court’s parlance, Mondays and Fridays are “miscellaneous days” reserved for fresh filings and preliminary hearings. By freeing these four benches from the regular burden of miscellaneous hearings, the court will be able to give uninterrupted judicial attention to its longest pending cases. There are multiple challenges to clearing the mounting backlog; the chief among them is the shortage of judges. Other contributing factors include lack of court management systems, poor infrastructure, frequent adjournments and indiscriminate use of writ jurisdiction. With the apex court becoming more accessible to citizens through e-filing and virtual hearings, case intake has risen exponentially. In 2025 alone, the total number of cases filed reached an unprecedented 75,402. The judiciary’s attempts in the past to reduce the overall pendency of cases and improve the speed and efficiency of the justice delivery system have yielded mixed results. During DY Chandrachud’s tenure as the CJI, several initiatives were taken to leverage technology to streamline the processes, including the launch of the SC-JUDICARE project to automate the classification of pending cases and group matters with similar legal issues so they could be heard together. It is heartening that the current CJI Surya Kant has vowed to formulate a unified national policy for disposing of pending matters.
