Pendency increases by 625 cases in December 2024

At the end of December 2024, there were 82,972 cases pending in the Supreme Court, an increase of 625 from November. After two consecutive months of decrease in pendency, pendency rose in the final month of the year.  In November 2024, the number of pending cases had reduced by 654 from October.

Figure 1 displays the month-wise representation of the Supreme Court’s pendency figures. Each figure indicates the number of cases pending at the end of each month. December 2024 marks the sixth time last year that there has been a month-on-month increase in pendency. The other months were March (increased by 428 cases), April (507), May (1601), June (the highest increase this year, by 1972), and September (213).

Pendency numbers were highest in June partly owing to the Court being on vacation for the entire month. This was followed by the sharpest decline in pendency in July 2024. Since then, both upward and downward fluctuations have been milder.

In February and March, the pendency figure had gone below the pendency number with which the Court started in 2024. Since then, the pendency number remained higher than the starting figure. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, between 2019 and 2022, pendency skyrocketed by around 20,000 cases, averaging an increase of 5,000 cases each year. From 2023, the first full year when the Court’s functioning was not impeded by the pandemic, while pendency continued to rise, it increased less sharply. Between 2022 and 2023, pendency increased by less than 2,000. This stabilising trend has continued into 2024.

In our coverage last month, we had noted that the month-on-month dip in pendency in November was likely due to Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s decision to only list after-notice miscellaneous matters until the end of the year, and only hear regular matters from 2025 onwards. On 10 December, CJI Khanna noted in  court that the pendency of miscellaneous matters had become quite high. According to data from the Supreme Court’s 2023-24 Annual Report, as of August 2024, about 72.2 percent of all pending matters were just admission matters.

While focussing on disposing miscellaneous matters dented pendency in November, the number increased once again by the end of December, reaching close to the October figure.

This spike was likely because the Court worked for four less days than November—15 as opposed to 19—as it closed for the year-end vacation. The last working day of the Court in 2024 was 20 December.  Last month, we had correctly predicted that the break might cause an upward spike in pendency.

Figure 2 illustrates the number of Constitution Bench cases pending in the Supreme Court. The donut on the left shows the number of main pending matters whereas the donut on the right shows the tagged matters which are pending. Tagged matters are cleared when  the main matter is decided.

In November, we observed that the data on Constitution Benches had not been updated since the previous month. Despite three five-judge bench judgements, one seven-judge bench judgement and one-nine judge bench judgement in November, the data showed that total Constitution Bench pendency had only reduced by one.

In December 2024, no Constitution Bench judgements were delivered. However, by the end of the month, the total number of pending Constitution Bench matters had increased. There were two more five-judge bench matters and one more nine-judge bench matter showing as pending. 

Also, compared to November, the pendency of seven-judge bench matters had reduced by one despite no seven-judge bench decisions throughout December. The reduction in one seven-judge bench  Constitution Bench matter is likely a belated  reflection of the disposal of the seven-judge bench matter on Aligarh Muslim University’s minority status. Even though the judgement was delivered in November, it had not reflected on Constitution Bench pendency numbers by the end of that month.