2.91cr old cases pending before courts: Law Ministry

The Ministry of Law and Justice, citing data published by the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), revealed that more than 2.91 crore court cases are pending before district and subordinate courts, out of which 21.90 lakh cases are pending for more than 10 years.

The statement from the Law Ministry comes after All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MP G. Hari sought a reply from Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, asking whether it is true that over 22 lakh crore cases are still pending in various subordinate courts of the country.

Hari also asked if the government has been urging the chief justices of 24 high courts to fast-track cases that are pending for more than 10 years.

As per the NJDG, a total of 8,29,128 cases are pending in Uttar Pradesh, thus making it the state with the highest number of pending cases. This is followed by Bihar (3,20,971) and Maharashtra (2,36,674).

Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar remained at the bottom with 2 and 0 pending cases, respectively.

Stressing on the efforts taken by the government to provide an ecosystem for disposal of cases by the judiciary, the Law Ministry said: "The National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms established by the government has adopted a coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration through various strategic initiatives, including improving infrastructure of court halls, filling up vacant position of judges and leveraging information and communication technology for better justice delivery.