September 2024: Disposal continues at a steady pace

In September, more cases were instituted and disposed of by the Supreme Court than in August. As the third quarter of the year ended, pendency stood at 83,100 cases. While July saw the highest number of cases instituted and disposed of this year, August saw a decrease on both fronts. 

Institution refers to the number of cases filed at the Court and disposal means the number of cases cleared from the Court’s docket. 

5672 cases instituted, 5142 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 August was collected from the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) on 5 October 2024 at 11.20am.

As seen in Figure 1 above, in September, both institution and disposal of cases increased compared to the month before. The Court received 5672 cases (142 more than in August) and disposed of 5142 cases (79 cases more than in August). 

The Court worked for 20 days in September with a sitting strength of 33 judges (Justice Hima Kohli retired on 1 September 2024 after a three-year tenure). This means that, on average, the Court cleared 257 cases daily. There were no Constitution Bench hearings or judgements in September. 

For a comparison, here are the institution and disposal numbers for the other months of the year so far:

January: The Court had a busy start to the year after returning from its winter break, receiving 4964 cases and disposing of 5453. A seven-judge Constitution Bench was active for seven out of the 20 working days. 

February: The number of cases instituted stood at 4821. Despite the  Court functioning at full strength for 21 days,  disposal stood at 5409 cases (44 less than in January). Constitution Benches heard three cases over seven days. 

March: For the first time this year, institutions surpassed disposals, with 4656 cases filed and 3926 disposed. This is partly due to the week-long Holi break, resulting in only 15 working days. Nine judges were engaged in Constitution Bench hearings for five days. 

April: The Court saw an increase in both institutions and disposals, with 5613 cases filed and 4813 disposed. Nine judges were occupied with two Constitution Bench hearings for 10 out of 19 working days.

May: Before the summer vacation, the Court received 5418 cases and disposed of 3610 in its 13 working days.  

June: The Court was on vacation the entire month, leading to a significant drop in both institutions and disposals. 2643 cases were filed and Vacation Benches cleared 613 matters during this time. 

July: After the Court returned from its summer break, it disposed of 6198 cases, the highest so far this year. It also received the highest number of cases this year—5949. July also marked the first drop in month-on-month pendency since February, with the Court reducing its case backlog by over 900 cases. 

August: The Court worked for 18 days, received 5530 cases and disposed of 5063 cases.

Highest institution and disposals in the last five Septembers

As seen in Figure 2, more cases were instituted and disposed of in September this year than in any other year since 2020. Unsurprisingly, the Covid years (2020 and 2021) saw the lowest number of cases instituted and disposed of. According to the 2018-2019 Annual Report of the Supreme Court, 4206 cases were instituted and 4027 cases disposed of in September 2019.  

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 a delay in data transfer from the Supreme Court to the NJDG. For instance, the numbers aligned for February, March, and August, but discrepancies popped up in January, April, May, June, and July. 

When we collected the data for September on 5 October, the institution numbers seemed to match up but there was a slight discrepancy in the disposal numbers. The NJDG recorded a disposal of 5142 cases whereas the Justice Clock recorded a disposal of 5181 cases.