A special roster unveiled by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, under which four dedicated benches will exclusively hear the Supreme Court’s oldest civil and criminal cases, is a welcome move. It needs to be complemented by similar moves in high courts and district judiciary, and wider structural reforms that put an end to protracted litigation that not only hurt the criminal justice system but also tilt the scales of justice against the marginalised. This newspaper reported on Monday
A special roster unveiled by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, under which four dedicated benches will exclusively hear the Supreme Court’s oldest civil and criminal cases, is a welcome move. It needs to be complemented by similar moves in high courts and district judiciary, and wider structural reforms that put an end to protracted litigation that not only hurt the criminal justice system but also tilt the scales of justice against the marginalised. This newspaper reported on Monday that the apex court identified around 800 long-pending matters for expedited disposal in the court’s first structured docket-management exercise in recent years. From July 13, two division benches headed by justices PK Mishra and SVN Bhatti will exclusively hear the oldest civil matters on non-miscellaneous days — Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Two other division benches headed by justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan will similarly hear the oldest criminal cases on those days. This is a significant beginning to lower the load of pending cases and shows that the top court has made this a priority. According to the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), the Supreme Court currently has 96,045 pending cases. Of these, 37,883 cases, around 39.4%, are less than one year old, indicating that a large chunk of the docket comprises older cases awaiting adjudication.
But this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Of the 54 million cases pending before the Indian judiciary at the end of 2025, around 48 million were in front of the district and subordinate courts. Not only do such cases affect the common person the most — after all, the district judiciary is the first port of justice for ordinary people — but also hold important ramifications for personal and civil liberties. Hence, the lower judiciary needs to follow the example set by the apex court and set up dedicated channels to deal with the issue of pendency.
Ultimately, the problem of pendency — which is growing year-on-year, underlining that the scale of the problem is only growing — requires concerted efforts by all stakeholders. This not only includes the judiciary but also the government, which is the largest litigator in the courts and can instruct its departments to weigh decisions before automatically filing appeals in every case. Structural reform — which prioritises personal liberty, bail before jail, and fulfilling judicial vacancies in an apolitical manner — is the only way to ensure that the promise of speedy justice is kept alive.
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