With 4 new benches, how SC plans to clear oldest pending cases, Pg16

Key Highlights:

• Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has established four special benches to exclusively address the Supreme Court's oldest pending civil and criminal cases.
• This initiative became effective on July 13, 2026, as part of a structured effort to manage the court's docket.
• The Supreme Court currently faces a backlog of 96,045 cases, with civil matters constituting the majority at 74,244.
• Among these, 24 civil cases and two criminal cases have been pending for over 30 years.
• These dedicated benches will operate on "non-miscellaneous days," specifically Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, to ensure uninterrupted hearings.

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Detailed Insights:

• Two of the newly formed division benches, headed by Justices P K Mishra and S V N Bhatti, will concentrate solely on the oldest civil cases.
• The other two division benches, led by Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan, are assigned to the oldest criminal matters.
• "Miscellaneous days" (Mondays and Fridays) are traditionally reserved for fresh filings and preliminary hearings, while "non-miscellaneous days" are for detailed arguments.
• Despite an increased rate of case disposal, the overall pendency has continued to rise due to new case intake, which reached an unprecedented 75,402 in 2025.
• Previous Chief Justices implemented various strategies, including U U Lalit's rigorous listing mechanism and D Y Chandrachud's SC-JUDICARE project for automated case classification and special benches.
• CJI Sanjiv Khanna focused on "admission matters" and identifying and weeding out infructuous cases to reduce the burden.
• CJI Surya Kant's primary objective with this reform is to reaffirm public confidence in the justice delivery system by ensuring timely resolution of long-pending cases.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Division Bench: A bench of two or more judges in a court, typically hearing cases that do not require a larger constitutional bench.
• Miscellaneous Days: In the Supreme Court, Mondays and Fridays are designated for fresh filings and preliminary hearings.
• National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG): An online platform under the eCourts Project that provides a comprehensive database of case information from district, subordinate, and high courts.
• SC-JUDICARE: A project launched to automate the classification of pending cases and group similar legal issues for combined hearings.
• Lok Adalat: A statutory alternative dispute resolution forum under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, for amicable settlement of disputes.