We Probably Deal With More Cases In A Day Than American Supreme Court Does In A Year: CJI Chandrachud While Dismissing PIL Seeking Time Bound Disposal Of Cases

The Supreme Court, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation seeking the clearance of all pending cases within a limited time frame, remarked that the Indian Supreme Court deals with more cases in a day than the Supreme Court of the United States does in an entire year.

The Court was hearing a Writ Petition filed by one Madan Gopal Agarwal who sought the clearance of all pending cases before the Supreme Court within 12 months, the High Court within 18 months and District Courts within 30 months.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra dismissed his petition.

When the Petitioner who appeared in person submitted that twenty countries have implemented a time limit for the disposal of cases, the Chief Justice remarked, "We are not the American Supreme Court. How many cases does the American Supreme Court deal with in a year? Do you know that? All 17 Benches of the Supreme Court probably deal with more cases in one day than the American Supreme Court deals with in an entire year. Every day I get a log of how many cases have been disposed of. We dispose of in one day more cases than what all the Western courts dispose of in the whole year."

The reason, the Chief Justice said, is that "we have created an access-to-justice model to allows people to come to this Court, so that has created delays. If we start restricting who can come to the court, what kind of cases we will hear, we will also knock out these arrears in one year. But that's not our model."

To reduce pendency, it is necessary for the judicial system to have "adequate infrastructure, judge strength and a variety of other things", the Chief Justice said adding that, "You cannot file a petition like this."

The Justice Clock on the Supreme Court's website shows the disposal and case clearance rate of the Supreme Court. The Court has disposed of 46,951 cases till October 18 with a case clearance rate of 97 per cent. Last month, it disposed of 5,665 cases with a 99 per cent rate. According to the National Judicial Data Grid, the Supreme Court currently has 82,397 cases pending, around 27,000 of which are less than one year old.

Cause Title: Madan Gopal Agarwal v. Ministry of Law and Justice [W.P.(C) 553/2024 PIL-W]