As of November 21, 2024, the Supreme Court of India has two vacant positions against a sanctioned strength of 34 judges. At the High Court level, a total of 364 positions remain unfilled across 25 High Courts. The Allahabad High Court has the highest number of vacancies, with 79 unfilled posts, followed by the Punjab & Haryana High Court (32 vacancies), the Calcutta High Court (29 vacancies), and the Bombay High Court (26 vacancies).
NEW DELHI: The Indian judiciary is facing significant challenges with a growing number of judicial vacancies and an increasing backlog of cases in lower courts. Recent data presented in the Rajya Sabha highlights the urgent need for reform in the judicial system.
Vacancies Across Courts
As of November 21, 2024, the Supreme Court of India has two vacant positions against a sanctioned strength of 34 judges. At the High Court level, a total of 364 positions remain unfilled across 25 High Courts. The Allahabad High Court has the highest number of vacancies, with 79 unfilled posts, followed by the Punjab & Haryana High Court (32 vacancies), the Calcutta High Court (29 vacancies), and the Bombay High Court (26 vacancies).
In the lower judiciary, there are 5,245 vacancies nationwide. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of vacancies at 981, followed by Gujarat with 535 vacancies.
Pendency of Cases
As of November 15, 2024, the number of pending cases in courts across the country has shown concerning trends. While the number of pending civil cases has decreased by 66,678, criminal cases have risen by 6,18,803. The total number of pending cases in district and subordinate courts stands at 4.53 crore (45.3 million), with criminal cases accounting for 3.43 crore (34.3 million) and civil cases totaling 1.09 crore (10.9 million).
The states with the highest number of pending cases are Uttar Pradesh, with over 1.15 crore cases; Maharashtra, with 54.22 lakh cases; and Bihar, with 36.06 lakh cases. On the other hand, several states have seen a reduction in case pendency. Kerala reduced its pending cases by 96,306, Gujarat by 28,272, Madhya Pradesh by 41,282, and Rajasthan by 18,251.
Judgment Translations
In an effort to make legal resources more accessible, the Supreme Court has translated 73,963 judgments into 18 regional languages. These translations include 36,302 in Hindi and 21,183 in Punjabi. The initiative is part of the Supreme Court’s plan to make judgments more comprehensible to a broader audience, especially in regions where local languages dominate.
Additionally, the High Courts have translated a total of 30,944 judgments. The Allahabad High Court has been particularly active in this effort, translating 8,338 judgments into regional languages. The initiative is overseen by the AI-Assisted Legal Translation Advisory Committee to improve access to legal information for citizens.
Read Attachments On Judicial Vacancies
Read Attachments On Judicial Translation
Read Attachments On Judicial Pendancy
