The figures were disclosed by the Union law ministry, which said 10,000-plus matters have been pending before the apex court for over 10 years. Of these, 558 cases have remained unresolved for more than 20 years, while 26 have been pending for over three decades. Across the country’s 25 high courts, more than 80,000 cases have crossed the 30-year mark.
The figure comes despite the Centre spending more than ₹9,800 crore since 2011 to improve judicial infrastructure and expand technology-driven initiatives under the e-Courts project, aimed at speeding up case disposal.
The broader pendency challenge also continues to mount. According to the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), India’s courts currently have more than 5.03 crore pending cases, including civil and criminal matters across all judicial tiers. The Supreme Court alone is handling over 94,000 pending cases, according to the latest court data.
The issue of prolonged litigation has repeatedly drawn attention from policymakers and the judiciary, with judicial vacancies, rising case inflows, frequent adjournments, and procedural delays cited as key factors slowing case disposal.
The latest figures underscore that while digitisation has improved access to court records and case management systems, reducing the stock of legacy cases remains one of the judiciary’s biggest structural challenges.
Vacancies add to pendency burden
Judicial vacancies continue to be one of the biggest contributors to mounting case pendency. As of 1 May 2026, the SC was functioning with 32 judges against a sanctioned strength of 34. The 25 high courts had 796 working judges against a sanctioned strength of 1,122, leaving 326 vacancies—nearly 29 per cent of sanctioned posts unfilled, according to the government data.
The Allahabad High Court had the highest number of vacancies at 52, followed by Calcutta (30), Madras (26) and Karnataka (24).
Centre has maintained that judicial appointments involve the executive and the SC Collegium, and that vacancies arise continuously because of retirements, resignations and elevations.
In a recent reply to Parliament, the government said 312 High Court judge posts were vacant as of March 6, 2026, with 132 appointment proposals at various stages of processing between the government and the Collegium. It also noted that 157 judges were appointed to High Courts during 2025, even as vacancies persisted.
