India faces a deep judicial crisis, with nearly 4.9 crore cases pending across various courts as of 2025. Despite the Supreme Court working at full strength, the gap between case filings and disposals keeps widening. Limited judges, outdated laws, and resource shortages have created a bottleneck that threatens justice delivery and public faith in the system.

BulletsIn

•  Around 4.9 crore cases pending across all Indian courts (as per NJDG 2025).
• Supreme Court: 88,000+ cases pending; High Courts: 60 lakh+; District Courts: 4.2 crore+.
• Rise in rights awareness (RTI, RTE, PILs) increased public access to courts.
• Only 21,000 judges for 1.4 billion people; ratio is 10 judges per million, far below global standards.
•  Vacancies persist due to Centre–State blame game and judicial–executive conflict on appointments.
•  Judicial infrastructure weak — only 0.1–0.4% of total budget allocated for judiciary.
• Government itself the largest litigant, causing nearly half the pending cases.
• Low quality in lower courts and lack of specialization lead to excessive appeals.
• Archaic and vague laws (some from the 1880s) add confusion and delay.
• Reforms needed: double judges to 50,000, establish All India Judicial Service, expand Fast Track Courts, Lok Adalats, and Gram Nyayalayas.