Why in News?

• At last count, the Supreme Court had 69,766 cases pending before it for adjudication.
• Amongst these cases, there are 29 cases which are pending before the Supreme Court’s Constitution Benches and the oldest case before a five-judge constitution bench has been pending for 31 years now.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• About Constitution Bench (Meaning, How it is formed, etc.)
• Pending Cases before Judiciary (Stats, Causes, Solutions, etc.)

What is a Constitution Bench of the SC?

• A Supreme Court bench with a strength of minimum five judges is called as Constitution Bench.
• It is set up when a significant question of law arises, necessitating interpretation of a provision or provision of the Constitution.

How a Constitution Bench is Formed?

• Article 145(3)of the Indian Constitution says –
  • A minimum of five judges need to sit for deciding a case involving a “substantial question of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution”, or
  • For hearing any reference under Article 143, which deals with the power of the President to consult the SC.
• The Chief Justice of India, who is also the master of the roster, decides which cases will be heard by a Constitution Bench, the number of judges on the bench and even its composition.

 Pending Cases before Constitution Benches:

• There are 29 Constitution Bench matters pending in the Supreme Court.
• Out of these 29 cases, 18 cases are pending before 5-Judge Bench, 6 cases pending before 7-judge Bench and 5 cases pending before 9-judge Bench for adjudication.

Pendency of cases in the Judiciary:

• As of December 31, 2022, the total pending cases in district and subordinate courts were pegged at over 4.32 crore.
• Amongst this, over 69,000 cases are pending in the Supreme Court, while there is a backlog of more than 59 lakh cases in the country's 25 high courts.
  • Out of these, 10.30 lakh cases were pending in the Allahabad High Court -- the biggest high court of the country.

What are the Causes & Solutions for this Backlog of Cases?

• Judicial Vacancies & Productivity –
  • Many experts have suggested that the Indian government should tackle the challenge of increasing pendency in Indian courts by appointing more judges to the bench.
  • The current strength is around 20 judges per 10 lakh population which is quite low.
    • The Law Commission in its 120^th report in 1987 had recommended 50 judges per 10 lakh population.
  • While this reasoning seems intuitive, it is also important to consider the productivity of the country’s judges.
  • To this end, judicial productivity is calculated as the ratio of judges to case disposals per year.
  • While empirical evidence on this metric is sparse, one 2008 study suggests that judicial productivity in Delhi district courts is about half of that in Australian courts.
  • Increasing the number of judges without finding ways to improve their productivity is, at best, a half measure.
• Budgetary Allocations for the Judiciary –
  • According to the India Justice Report 2019, of the twenty-seven states and two union territories included in the study, twenty-one of them had judicial spending growth rates that were slower than the growth rates of their total expenditures.
• Government being the Largest Litigant –
  • Intra and inter departmental disputes of branches of governments, states vs centre matters and issues arising and among government and public sector undertakings end up in courts.
  • This adds to workload of judiciary and thereby adds to pendency of cases.
  • The government, being the largest litigant should self-motivate itself to use alternate dispute redressal system and approach the courts only as a matter of last resort.

Steps Taken to Reduce Pendency of Cases:

• The burden to reduce pendency is not only on the judiciary but also on the central government as 40% of the litigation is of the government.
• At the government level:
  • The Centre has introduced a mobile application - Justice App - meant exclusively for judges across the country to help them track how many cases are pending before them.
  • The government has also upgraded the judicial infrastructure by introducing Information Communication Technology (e-Court Mission Mode Project) to more and more courts in the country.
• At the SC level: The appointment of judges to the higher courts is frequently recommended by the SC Collegium. For example, in 2021 it recommended the appointment of 129 High Court judges, soon after the appointment of 7 judges to the SC.

Way Ahead:

• The 112th Law Commission of India report suggested the fixation of the judge strength formula.
• Introducing the All-India Judicial Services (AIJS), after building a consensus within the judiciary.
• The Judiciary should curb the practice of seeking adjournments as a norm rather than an exception.