Rising case backlog: Supreme Court cases up by 35% in 5 years
New Delhi: The Law Minister, Arjun Ram Meghwal, revealed alarming statistics to the Lok Sabha regarding the escalating backlog of court cases across India. According to his statement, the number of pending cases in the Supreme Court surged by 35% over the past five years, from 59,859 in 2019 to 80,765 by the end of 2023. Despite functioning at full capacity during this period, the court witnessed an increase of approximately 20,900 cases.
The situation is similarly concerning in the High Courts, where pending cases rose from 46.8 lakh in 2019 to 62 lakh in 2023, marking a 33% increase with an additional 15 lakh cases. The subordinate courts, however, bear the highest burden, with 4.4 crore pending cases recorded at the close of 2023. This reflects a 38% increase from 2019, where the backlog stood at 3.2 crore cases.
Minister Meghwal attributed these staggering increases to various factors, including inadequate physical infrastructure, insufficient support staff, complexities in case nature and evidence, legal procedures, and the involvement of multiple stakeholders such as lawyers, investigating agencies, witnesses, and defendants.
The rising backlog in India's judiciary poses significant challenges and calls for urgent measures to streamline judicial processes and enhance infrastructure to ensure timely justice delivery.
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Power struggle in ruling Cong has 'created massive confusion' in Karnataka: BJP leader Ashoka
Bengaluru (PTI): BJP leader R Ashoka on Friday claimed that the ongoing power struggle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar has created massive confusion in Karnataka.
He remarked that the proverb “when two people fight, the third one benefits” has come true, as AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge is also now making efforts to become Chief Minister.
Speaking to reporters here, Ashoka said the entire government has turned into a house of confusion due to the alleged power tussle.
Kharge’s new statement has only added to the chaos, he said.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had on Friday said that no date has been fixed yet to discuss possible leadership change in Karnataka.
This came a day after Kharge said there was no change of CM in Karnataka "for now" and that the leadership issue in the state would be resolved soon.
The BJP leader said that Kharge too has aspirations and that he was cheated earlier.
"Perhaps he has received a green signal from the Congress high command to become CM. Everyone is already saying Kharge should become CM. Kharge himself has declared, “I am ready to become CM.” Despite many attempts in the past, he never became CM. Now he is trying to seize the opportunity," the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly said.
According to him, the situation in Congress has perfectly become a case of “two people fighting, third one benefits.”
