Cases pending in various courts across India are moving towards the five crore mark, according to the data shared by the government in Lok Sabha on Friday.
In a written reply, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said while 72,062 cases are pending in Supreme Court as on July 1, 59,55,873 cases were pending in the 25 high courts as on July 25.
In the district and subordinate courts, over 4.23 crore cases were pending.
This means, a total of over 4.83 crore cases are pending across various courts.
The question "whether the government has assessed the reasons for huge pendency of cases in various courts" meant for a written reply, was asked by a total of 26 Lok Sabha members.
Disposal of pending cases in courts, Mr Rijiju said, is within the domain of the judiciary. No time frame has been prescribed for disposal of various kinds of cases by the respective courts.
He said the government has no direct role in disposal of cases in courts. Timely disposal of cases in courts depends on several factors which include availability of adequate number of judges and judicial officers, supporting court staff and physical infrastructure, complexity of facts involved, nature of evidence, co-operation of the Bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants and proper application of rules and procedures.
"There are several factors which may lead to delay in disposal of cases. These, inter-alia, include vacancies of judges, frequent adjournments and lack of adequate arrangement to monitor, track and bunch cases for hearing," he said.
Responding to a debate on the Family Courts (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha on July 26, the minister had said it is unfair to blame the government or the judiciary for the pending cases and pointed out that while litigations are settled, double the number of cases are added to the courts' dockets every day.
"People question what the government, the law minister is doing. I feel sad. While raising such serious issues like pending cases, people should get into the details first," Mr Rijiju had said.
He had also objected to foul or inappropriate words being used to attack the courts.
"Judges work hard. There are judges who have settled hundreds of cases in a day. They work from 9 am to 9 pm," he said.
The reason for pendency is "something else", Mr Rijiju said.
"More cases are settled but double the number of cases are filed every day. People are becoming aware, they approach courts for settling matter (disputes)," he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
