Supreme Court reduces case backlog by over 900 in July 2024

The month of July ended with 83,312 pending cases in the Supreme Court, a decrease of 968 cases from the 84,280 at the beginning of the month. This marks the first time since February 2024 that pendency has decreased from the preceding month. Pendency had peaked in June with over 84,000 cases—this was expected due to the Court’s seven-week summer break, which began on 20 May and ended on 7 July. 

When the Court resumed functioning on 8 July, it was with a bench of 32 judges. The full bench was restored within a week after the appointment of Justices N. Kotiswar Singh and R. Mahadevan. This allowed the Court to reduce the caseload by over 900 cases. It is typical to see a drop in pendency following the summer vacation break.

Figure 1 illustrates a monthly breakdown of pending cases, highlighting that the number of pending cases peaked in June 2024. 

A significant leap in pending cases was observed in May and June 2024, coinciding with the summer break. The Court had only 13 working days in May. 

The rise in pendency can be attributed primarily to the weeks of vacation. During this period, two or three benches functioned to hear urgent matters. Disposals are significantly fewer during the vacation weeks.  An increase in pendency is inevitable because the Court’s registry continues to accept cases for filing during the break. 

In July, the Court worked for 17 days and managed to reduce the pendency by 968 cases. This trend is expected to carry into August, which will be the first full month of the Court’s functioning since April. 

Constitution Bench pendency in July 2024

Figure 2 shows the total number of pending Constitution Bench cases. These are five-, seven-, and nine-judge bench cases. The donut chart on the left illustrates the main Constitution Bench cases pending before the Supreme Court, while the chart on the right displays the number of tagged cases. Tagged cases are those dealing with the same substantial question of law, which will be resolved once the main case is decided.

There are 35 pending five-judge Constitution Bench matters in the Supreme Court, a slight reduction from June’s 36 pending matters. This decrease is puzzling since no five-judge Constitution Bench decisions were delivered in July.

The seven-judge bench pendency has also reduced by one. Last month, it stood at eight cases. Notably, there were no seven-judge bench decisions in July. On 1 August, a decision on sub-classification of Scheduled Caste categories was delivered by a seven-judge bench. 

Interestingly, the nine-judge bench cases have remained constant at seven, despite a verdict delivered on 26 July regarding the state’s power to tax mines and minerals. The pending question of the prospective or retrospective application of the decision may explain why the reduction hasn’t been reflected in the National Judicial Data Grid.

In the past two weeks, the Court has delivered verdicts in two notable Constitution Bench cases. As more Constitution Bench judgements are pronounced in the run-up to Chief Justice Chandrachud’s retirement in November, pendency can be  expected to decrease further in the coming months.