Pendency statistics improve in high courts, but still early to celebrate

Over a fifth of cases in HCs pending for over a decade. Kolkata High Court worst performing with 47% cases pending for over 10 years

Earlier this week, the SC recommended remission for a murder convict in jail for 16 years. However, unbeknownst to the apex court, the applicant had died last year in September. 

A month ago, former CJI and now Rajya Sabha MP, Ranjan Gogoi, had castigated the judicial system for endless delays. The former CJI had said that “if you go to Court, you don’t get a verdict, all you do is wash your dirty linen".

While given the pendency — there are over 35 million cases pending in various courts — CJI’s comments may seem true, data analysis shows that pendency