The Rajasthan High Court holds the ignominious distinction of having the oldest pending case among all the high courts in India. That case, filed in 1956, is 61 years old..This was revealed in the Lok Sabha today after Member of Parliament Anupam Hazra posed a question regarding the oldest civil and criminal cases pending in the Supreme Court and the high courts..In his response, Minister of State for Law and Justice PP Chaudhary divulged that the oldest criminal case pending in the apex court was filed in 1991, whereas the oldest civil case was brought to court in 1982..The answer also provides a list of the oldest pending civil and criminal cases in each high court, with the exception of the Calcutta High Court, for which data could not be collected..Oldest civil cases.The oldest high court case was initially thought to be the one filed in 1958 in the Jharkhand High Court, as earlier revealed by Daksh founder Harish Narasappa. However, it appears that the Rajasthan High Court now holds that dubious distinction. Interestingly, the Delhi High Court also finds mention in this list, with a case filed in 1968 still pending..High CourtOldest CaseRajasthan1956Jharkhand1958Orissa1961Patna1967Delhi1968.Oldest criminal cases.On average, the oldest civil cases were found to be pending for a longer period of time than the oldest criminal cases. The average oldest civil case in the high courts was 33 years old, whereas the average oldest criminal case was 23 years old..The high courts of Allahabad and Jammu & Kashmir have the oldest pending criminal cases, both filed in 1976. The Rajasthan High Court and the Patna High Court find their way to this list as well, with cases pending since 1981 and 1980 respectively..High CourtOldest CaseAllahabad1976Jammu & Kashmir1976Patna1980Punjab & Haryana1981Rajasthan1981.Hazra, in his query, had also asked the steps being taken by the Centre to deal with the issue of pendency. The response states that among the measures taken was the increase of the sanctioned strength of the courts from 906 in June 2014 to 1079 as of May 2016. Moreover, the sanctioned strength of the subordinate judiciary has been increased from 20,174 at the end of 2014 to 21,374 in September 2016..As regards judicial appointments, the response states,.“…during the year 2016, 126 fresh appointment of Judges in High Courts and 131 Additional Judges were made permanent, which is the highest number of appointments made in the last 26 years. In addition, the tenure of 22 Additional Judges of High Courts was also extended..…4 judges were appointed in the Supreme Court in 2016. During the current year (2017), as on date, 5 more Judges have been appointed in Supreme Court, 9 more Judges have been appointed in High Courts and 16 more Additional Judges have been made permanent…”.Other initiatives such as National Lok Adalats, repeal of obsolete laws, introduction of Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Court Act, 2015 and amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act were mentioned in the reply..Pendency of cases, as has been revealed by various studies and members of the higher judiciary, depends on a number of factors. Recently, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy had given suggestions on how to deal with delay and inefficiencies in the system, through a study of cases in the Delhi High Court..As per the Supreme Court’s annual report, there are more than 3 crore cases pending in courts across the country.
