24 HCs short of 43.65 percent judges, 40.54 lakh pending cases

New Delhi: A whopping 40.54 lakh cases are pending across the country in 24 High Courts which are also grappling with almost 44 percent shortage of judges, at a time when the judiciary and executive are on a face-off over the appointment of judges in the higher judiciary.

These astonishing figures have cropped up in the 'Indian Judiciary Annual Report 2015-2016' issued by the Supreme Court, according to which out of a total sanctioned strength of 1,079 judges for the high courts, only 608 judges are working, as per the data compiled till June 30 last year.

This shortage amounts to 43.65 percent of the total sanctioned strength of high court judges, the data showed.

Out of the total 40.54 lakh cases pending in all the high courts as on June 30 last year, 29,31,352 were civil cases and 11,23,178 criminal matters, while 7,43,191 matters are over a decade old.

Appointment of judges in the higher judiciary has been a bone of contention between the two organs of democracy.

While the apex court has told the government that it cannot bring judiciary to a "grinding halt" by not appointing High Court judges, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad yesterday said the government has so far appointed 126 judges, the highest since 1990, and in high courts about 131 additional judges have been confirmed.

The worst sufferer among the high courts is the Allahabad High Court which has been functioning with less than half the sanctioned judges strength, leading to the amassing of over 9.24 lakh pending cases, the highest among all the high courts in the country, of which 3,09,634 cases are over 10-year-old.

This high court had only 78 judges out of sanctioned strength of 160, as per the figures in the 298-page report of the apex court.

The second high court having the maximum number of pending cases is the Madras High Court which had 3,02,846 pendency but the institution had only 38 judges out of its sanctioned strength of 75.

The Bombay High Court is facing a pendency of 2,98,263 cases out of which 53,511 matters are over 10-year-old. This court has 64 judges working out of the sanctioned strength of 94, the data showed.

In terms of percentage, Chhattisgarh High Court is among the worst affected as it has around 37 per cent judges compared to its sanctioned strength -- eight out of 22, and a pendency of 54,094 cases.

Only Sikkim and Tripura high courts had 100 percent working strength as on June 30 last year, the data on vacancy of judges shows.

While Sikkim High Court has a pendency of 129 cases and has three judges, the Tripura High Court has four judges and a pendency of 2,987 cases.

Calcutta High Court, which the oldest among all, is also facing a shortage of 31 judges out of the sanctioned strength of 72. The figures show that only 41 judges were on the roll of the high court, which had a pendency of 2,13,514 cases. There were 1,75,993 civil cases and 37,521 are criminal matters which have been pending.

High Court of Delhi, which turned 50 last year, also has a shortage of around 40 per cent of judges as on June 30 last year. It has 35 judges while its sanctioned strength is 60.

A total of 65,165 cases, including 48,032 civil and 17,133 criminal matters are pending in Delhi High Court where 5,091 matters are pending adjudication for over 10 years.

High Court of Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has 33 judges out of the sanctioned strength of 52 and it has a pendency of 92,393 cases, of which 13,765 matters are pending for over 10 years.

The High Courts in Punjab and Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Hyderabad and Karnataka are the ones which are facing pendency of over 2.5 lakh cases.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has a total pendency of 2,88,928 cases and it has only 46 judges while the sanctioned strength is 85.

Similarly, Madhya Pradesh High Court has 34 judges out of the sanctioned strength of 53 and has 2,83,119 pending cases. 

Hyderabad High Court, with a sanctioned strength of 61, has only 25 judges and it is grappling with pendency of 2,78,695 cases out of which 24,606 are over 10-year old.

The Karnataka High Court is also burdened with pendency of 2,56,509 matters and it has 27 judges out of the sanctioned strength of 62.

The report shows that Rajasthan High Court is working at 62 per cent judge strength as out of the santioned 50, only 31 judges are there as on June 30 last year.

It has 2,26,651 pending cases out of which 1,69,989 are civil matters and 56,662 are criminal cases.

In hill states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the pendency of cases in high courts are 1.28 lakh, 25,784 and 30,538 respectively.

While Jammu and Kashmir High Court has nine judges out of 17 sanctioned for it, Himachal Pradesh High Court has 11 out of 13. The Uttarakhand High Court is facing shortage of five judges as it has six judges out of sanctioned strength of 11.

Similarly, Kerala High Court has a pendency of 1,16,052 cases as on August 31 last year. However, as per the data, this high court has 33 judges out of the sanctioned strength of 47.

The Orissa High Court has 19 judges out of 27 sanctioned while the pendency there stood at 1,70,834.

While the Patna High Court, having a pendency of 1,30,605 cases, has 29 judges out of 53, the Jharkhand High Court has a sanctioned strength of 25 but only 14 judges are there and it is facing a pendency of 68,989 matters.

In the Northeast, the Gauhati High Court has a strength of 13 judges out of the 24 sanctioned and a total of 47,085 matters are pending there.

Similarly, the Manipur High Court and Meghalaya High Court have a sanctioned strength of five and four judges while there are four and three judges working there. They have a pendency of 3,161 and 672 matters respectively.