SC Pendency Between January to May Increased by 4.3%

In 2021 the Supreme Court saw an increase in the number of pending cases. Between January 1st and May 1st 2021 pendency has increased from 65,086 cases to 67,898 cases. This marks a 4.3% increase in the number of cases pending.

This increase in pendency has taken place primarily at the admission stage. The graph below illustrates this increase, at 6.86% (3149 cases) in the admission stage. The pendency of regular stage hearings has decreased by 1.75% (337 cases).

However, this fall in pendency for regular hearing matters indicates a pattern of decrease in admitted cases reaching the regular hearing stage.

The number of pending cases is at 67,897 and the rate at which they’re increasing is greater than in previous years as illustrated by the graph above. In previous years we saw a 1.4% and a 1.7% rise in pending cases in 2019 and 2020 respectively. We have now seen a 4.3% increase. The COVID pandemic seems to be the plausible reason behind the steep increase.