Over 42 lakh cases are pending in India's 21 high courts and shocking 2.7 crore cases are pending in lower courts across the country. The figures appear to be quite alarming and surprisingly are growing by the day. These figures have been revealed by the Supreme Court this week in its latest update of pending cases and vacancies in Indian courts. The report discloses pendency in cases up to December 31, 2010 for Supreme Court and up to September 30, 2010 for High Courts and Lower Courts. The report also provides statistics on vacancies up to February 1, 2011. 

Pending Cases:

The good news here is that the number of pending cases in Supreme Court has reduced by 2.2 percent. But for both High Courts and Lower courts the number has gone up by 3.8 percent and 2.5 percent respectively. There has been a 2.65 percent annual increase in the total number of pending cases despite the efforts of the government such as the National Litigation Policy.

Vacancies in various Courts:

Statistics released by the Supreme Court shows that the number of vacancies in Supreme Court remains the same as last year. But the statistics of both High Courts and Lower Courts are of concern. There have been nearly 30 percent vacancies in the High Courts for the past three years and Lower Courts are not fairing any better. Lower Courts across India have 19 percent vacancy as compared to 16 percent in 2009.

One of the reasons of the creation of huge backlog of cases is that India is facing alarming shortage of judges. There are about 291 vacant posts in the high courts alone and 3,170 in lower courts.

State wise Pending Cases:

The enormity of the task calls for urgent action from the government. There needs to be increase in strength of judges in various courts, keeping in mind the pendency of cases as well as the trend of institution of fresh cases. 

The table above clearly reveals that the Allahabad High Court has the maximum number of pending cases (0.97 million) followed by Madras High Court (0.45 million) and Bombay High Court (0.35 million). Sikkim is the lowest with just 52 pending cases.

Of the pending cases in high courts, 881,647 were criminal and 3,336,256 were civil cases.

In subordinate courts, Uttar Pradesh tops the list of pending cases and accounts for 5.6 million cases, followed by Maharashtra (4 million), West Bengal (2.7 million) and Gujarat (2.2 million).

Looking at these alarming numbers, both Supreme Court and the Government are taking positive measures to bring in major judicial and legal reforms.

The Supreme Court seems to be taking positive steps to expedite the delivery of justice. The Plan provision for Department of Justice has increased the 2011-2012 Budget nearly four times times to Rs. 1000 crore ($222 million) from Rs. 280 crore ($62 million) in the 2010-2011. This increased budget will be utilised in building judicial infrastructure and E-courts project.

The high courts have cleared 249 proposals for construction of new buildings while the State Governments have cleared 607 proposals for construction of new court buildings by granting administrative and financial sanction.

It looks certain that with these measures which are already showing positive results, the mounting statistics would be reduced considerably.