Five crore Indians wait when the courts take a break, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• The Supreme Court and major High Courts observe summer vacations, with limited benches functioning for urgent matters.
• Over 5.39 crore cases were pending in Indian courts as of late 2025, including 92,000 in the Supreme Court, its highest in over 30 years.
• Approximately three out of four prisoners in India are undertrials, who are unconvicted but incarcerated.
• The Supreme Court works for about 190 days annually, with institutional quiet for over six weeks during vacations.
• In 2024, the Supreme Court rebranded "summer vacation" as "partial court working days" without altering the number of working days.

Detailed Insights:

• At the current pace, clearing the existing judicial backlog could take an estimated three centuries.
• Indian judges are among the most overworked globally, often utilizing recess periods to write reserved judgments.
• The practice of long court vacations is a colonial legacy, originally suited for English judges to avoid the Indian summer.
• A parliamentary standing committee in 2023 recommended staggering judicial leave to ensure continuous court functioning.
• The Law Commission and the Justice Malimath Committee have also previously suggested staggered vacations to improve efficiency.
• Significant judicial vacancies, with up to a third of High Court seats lying empty, further contribute to the case backlog.
• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms, such as Lok Adalats and arbitration, remain underutilized.
• The Mediation Act of 2023 aims to encourage pre-litigation settlement, thereby reducing the burden on courts.
• Retired judges, with their extensive experience, could be engaged to identify bottlenecks and set targets for case disposal.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Undertrials: Individuals who are presumed innocent but are incarcerated while awaiting the conclusion of their trial.
• Lok Adalats: Statutory alternative dispute resolution forums that settle cases through conciliation and compromise, often resulting in binding awards.
• Mediation Act of 2023: Legislation enacted to promote and facilitate mediation, particularly pre-litigation mediation, as a means of dispute resolution.
• Collegium: The system by which judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are appointed and transferred in India.
• Parliamentary Standing Committee: Committees comprising Members of Parliament that scrutinize government functioning, legislation, and policies.