October 2024: Supreme Court clears 351 cases per day

In October, more cases were instituted and disposed of by the Supreme Court than in September. The highest institution and disposal this year was in July. Institution refers to the number of cases filed at the Court and disposal means the number of cases cleared from the Court’s docket. 

5178 cases instituted, 4563 cases disposed

Figure 1 shows a month-wise breakdown of the number of cases instituted and disposed of by the Supreme Court in 2024.

Note: The data for October was collected from the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) on 12 November  2024 at 4:15 p.m.

 As seen in Figure 1 above, both institution and disposal of cases decreased in October compared to September. The Court received 5178 (494 less than in September) and disposed of 4563 cases (579  less than in September). The monthly clearance rate stood at 88.12 percent. 

This dip can be attributed to the two weeks of Dussehra and Diwali breaks, due to which the Court worked for only 13 days during the month (One week less than in September). This means that the Court disposed of 351 cases per day. 

Here's a breakdown of institutions and disposals for each month so far:

Spring session

In January, 4964 cases were filed and 5453 cases were disposed of in the Supreme Court. A seven-judge Constitution Bench was active for seven out of 20 working days. In February, it received 4821 cases and cleared 5409. Constitution Benches heard three cases over seven days. In March, 4656 cases were filed and 3926 were disposed of. Nine judges were engaged in Constitution Bench hearings for five out of the total 15 working days due to the Holi break, during that month. 

Summer session

April saw 5613 institutions and 4813 disposals. In this period, nine judges were occupied with two Constitution Bench hearings for 10 out of 19 working days. In May, 5418 cases were filed, and 3610 were disposed of in 13 working days before it broke for summer vacation. The last month of the second quarter, June was a complete court vacation. During this time, 2643 cases were filed and Vacation Benches cleared  613 cases. 

Monsoon session

In July, a well-rested Court resumed with renewed enthusiasm. The Court saw 5949 cases filed and disposed of 6198 cases—the highest disposal and filing this year, reducing pendency by over 900 cases. In August, the Court worked for 18 days, during which it received 5530 cases and cleared 5063 cases. As the third quarter of the year ended, in September, the Court worked for 20 days. In this period, it received 5672 cases and cleared 5142 cases. 

Note: The Supreme Court does not have an official session calendar. For analytical clarity, we at the Supreme Court Observer have divided it into four sessions: Spring (January to March), Summer (April to June), Monsoon (July to September), and Winter (October to December).

Highest institution and disposal in the last three Octobers

As seen in Figure 2, more cases were instituted and disposed of in October this year than in any other year since 2022. We were unable to make a five-year comparison as the month-wise breakdown for 2020 and 2021 was unavailable in the Court’s Annual reports. 

Note: In our monthly posts tracking institution and disposal of cases at the top court, we also track data inconsistencies between two platforms: the National Judicial Data Grid and the Justice Clock. The Justice Clock is hosted on the Supreme Court's webpage, while the NJDG is managed by the Department of Justice and compiles data from various courts, including the Supreme Court, High Courts, and lower courts. 

We’ve noticed that in some months, there’s been a delay in data transfer from the Supreme Court to the NJDG. For instance, the numbers aligned for February, March, August and September but discrepancies popped up in January, April, May, June, and July.

For October, the numbers matched on both platforms with a minor discrepancy of three cases in disposals and four cases in institutions.