Parliament Question: Cases Pendency and e-Courts Project

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3371 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 7th AUGUST, 2026 CASES PENDENCY AND E-COURTS PROJECT

3371. SHRI SASIKANTH SENTHIL:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

(a) whether a large number of cases are pending before the Supreme Court, High Courts and District and Subordinate Courts across the country;

(b) if so, the latest details of total pending cases, court-wise and State/UT-wise;

(c) whether the Government maintains data on long-pending cases and, if so, the number of cases pending for more than five years and more than ten years, court-wise;

(d) whether funds have been approved and utilised under the e-Courts Project for computerisation, digital case management, virtual hearings and related judicial infrastructure; and

(e) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken to reduce pendency, improve case disposal and strengthen judicial infrastructure? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

(a) to (c): As per data available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), as on 30.07.2026, the total number of cases pending in courts, cases pending for more than five years and more than ten years before the Supreme Court and High Courts, court-wise and state-wise are at Annexure-I.

The total number of cases pending, cases pending for more than five years and more than ten years in the District & Subordinate Courts across the country, court-wise and state-wise are at Annexure-II.

(d) & (e): The Government approved Phase III (2023–2027) of the e-Courts project with budget outlay of ₹7,210 crore. This phase envisions transforming courts into digital and paperless courts, expanding video conferencing to all courts, jails and hospitals and integrating stakeholders of the criminal justice system. It also aims for universal saturation of eSewa Kendras, creation of a state- of-the-art cloud-based data repository for storing digitized court records and applications and 1deployment of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for case analysis and forecasting.

Till date, over 753 crore pages of court records have been digitized and 2,584 eSewa Kendras have been established to enhance citizen service delivery. Courts have conducted over 4.18 crore hearings through video conferencing facilities. Approximately 1.25 cr. cases have been filed electronically through the eFiling platform. For better digital case management, Digital Courts platform has been developed to provide the judges with a paperless court ecosystem.

Details of funds allocated and utilised under Phase III of the eCourts Mission Mode Project since its commencement, year-wise are as under: (Rs in crore) Funds under eCourts Project Phase III Financial year Budget Allocation Expenditure 2023-24 825.00* 768.25 2024-25 1200.00* 1029.11 2025-26 1200.00* 717.45 2026-27 1200.00 29.00 TOTAL 3225.00 2543.81 *Revised Estimates The primary responsibility for development of infrastructure facilities for District and Subordinate Courts rests with the State Governments/UTs. However, to augment the resources of States/UTs, Central Government has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for the Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary in the District and Subordinate Courts since 1993-94. The Scheme covers five components, namely, Court Halls, Residential Units for Judicial Officers, Lawyers’ Halls, Toilet Complexes and Digital Computer Rooms. Under the Scheme, funds amounting to Rs.12,858.25 Cr have been provided to the States/UTs till 30.06.2026 since inception of the Scheme. As on 30.06.2026, against sanctioned strength of 30,825 and working strength of 21,411 Judicial Officers, 22,639 Court Halls and 21,495 Residential Units for Judicial Officers are available.

***** 2ANNEXURE-I STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) TO (C) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3371 FOR ANSWER ON 07.08.2026 REGARDING ‘CASES PENDENCY AND E-COURTS PROJECT’ Cases pending in the Supreme Court and High Courts, as on 30.07.2026 Sl No. Name of the Court No. of Pending for more Pending for more pending cases than 10 years than 5 years Supreme Court of India 95,954 9,425 14,352 High Courts 1 Allahabad 12,28,281 4,89,981 2,41,591 2 Bombay 6,43,385 1,84,909 1,33,472 3 Calcutta 1,99,363 75,100 33,899 4 Gauhati 65,244 4,859 18,828 5 Telangana 2,43,119 36,300 65,390 6 Andhra Pradesh 2,53,706 56,037 60,137 7 Chhattisgarh 73,887 6,234 17,047 8 Delhi 1,26,177 20,581 21,654 9 Gujarat 1,75,833 25,313 44,542 10 Himachal Pradesh 1,05,243 8,541 32,273 11 Jammu & Kashmir 44,557 6,106 7,328 and Ladakh 12 Jharkhand 73,368 14,938 14,076 13 Karnataka 3,35,879 22,362 55,689 14 Kerala 2,45,566 41,620 64,197 15 Madhya Pradesh 4,92,459 1,54,546 98,634 16 Manipur 6,276 133 969 17 Meghalaya 2,009 7 88 18 Punjab and Haryana 4,22,920 1,32,940 95,070 19 Rajasthan 7,01,385 1,32,303 1,64,606 20 Sikkim 323 4 12 21 Tripura 1,613 1 13 22 Uttarakhand 63,425 6,360 17,075 23 Madras 5,69,436 1,19,993 85,858 24 Orissa 1,70,346 38,936 30,724 25 Patna 2,23,170 39,465 50,187 Total 64,66,970 16,17,569 13,53,359

Source: National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) 3ANNEXURE-II STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) TO (C) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3371 FOR ANSWER ON 07.08.2026 REGARDING ‘CASES PENDENCY AND E-COURTS PROJECT’.

Cases pending in District & Subordinate Courts, as on 30.07.2026 Sr State No. of pending More than 10 More than 5 years No. cases years 1 Andaman and Nicobar 8,903 1,589 2,324 2 Andhra Pradesh 9,46,929 18,631 1,40,236 3 Arunachal Pradesh 15,877 1,474 2,414 4 Assam 5,95,122 10,682 55,404 5 Bihar 37,76,254 8,76,810 12,08,967 6 Chandigarh 1,00,147 448 5,929 7 Chhattisgarh 4,77,267 1,303 40,828 8 Delhi 17,29,177 44,142 2,18,871 9 Goa 63,494 4,564 12,180 10 Gujarat 16,14,861 56,519 1,86,749 11 Haryana 15,27,436 5,488 2,15,533 12 Himachal Pradesh 6,24,095 10,344 69,431 13 Jammu and Kashmir 3,65,645 20,767 63,876 14 Jharkhand 5,71,695 43,869 1,13,079 15 Karnataka 23,37,197 1,00,192 3,31,219 16 Kerala 17,87,816 47,686 2,89,169 17 Ladakh 1,745 12 98 18 Lakshadweep 601 27 73 19 Madhya Pradesh 21,42,280 36,080 3,48,670 20 Maharashtra 61,70,497 5,53,893 12,04,334 21 Manipur 14,974 856 2,250 22 Meghalaya 19,533 2,481 3,137 23 Mizoram 9,654 25 555 24 Nagaland 4,100 309 889 25 Odisha 18,68,294 3,07,182 4,60,365 26 Puducherry 37,012 2,485 5,151 27 Punjab 10,26,857 4,148 63,559 28 Rajasthan 27,61,162 83,537 6,10,905 29 Sikkim 2,305 4 31 30 Tamil Nadu 17,89,467 63,691 2,04,421 31 Telangana 10,02,018 20,061 1,56,997 32 The Dadra and Nagar 8,652 394 1,507 Haveli and Daman and Diu 33 Tripura 74,324 715 3,455 34 Uttar Pradesh 1,19,90,328 23,19,114 26,07,728 35 Uttarakhand 3,03,581 7,243 47,455 36 West Bengal 41,42,621 8,05,149 7,19,828 Total 4,99,11,920 54,51,914 93,97,617

Source: National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) 4