New Delhi, November 9 (IANS). Outgoing Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud responded to allegations about the increase in the number of pending cases in the Supreme Court during his tenure.
Speaking at the farewell function organized in his honor by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the CJI said that in the last two years, 1,11,000 cases were registered, 5,33,000 cases were listed and 1,07,000 cases were disposed of.
He said, “You might have read somewhere that the number of cases pending in the Supreme Court has reached 82,000. I want to tell you the rough figures. Before November 2022, unregistered/defunct cases were never placed in the public domain. And they were not accounted for.”
Justice Chandrachud said that when he took over as the Chief Justice in November 2022, he found that around 1,500 files were lying locked in the cupboard of the Registrar.
He said, “I said this has to be changed. Every case coming into the system should be tagged with a number. We decided to put the data of all pending cases in the public domain, whether registered or unregistered. The number was 79,000 on January 1, 2020, including what we now call defective cases, and this number reached 93,000 on January 1, 2022. Declined to 82,000 on January 1, 2024. So this includes both registered and unregistered cases and the number has declined by 11,000 in two years.”
CJI Chandrachud said the number of cases filed in the top court has doubled and 21,000 bail petitions were filed in the last two years, while 21,358 bail petitions were disposed of by Supreme Court judges. Praising his fellow judges, he said each of his colleagues went above and beyond the call of duty and accepted the task given to him as Chief Justice.
After a two-year tenure at the country’s highest judicial post, CJI Chandrachud is scheduled to retire on November 10 on attaining the age of 65. He was first appointed as a judge of the Bombay High Court on 29 March 2000. He has also served as the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court from 31 October 2013 until his elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court on 13 May 2016.
CJI Chandrachud passed BA with Honors in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi and studied LLB from Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi. In June 1998 he was designated as a senior advocate by the Bombay High Court. He also served as the Additional Solicitor General of India from 1998 to 2000.
CJI Chandrachud had last month recommended the name of Justice Sanjiv Khanna as his successor, which was approved by the Central Government. Justice Khanna will become the 51st Chief Justice of the country on November 11.
–IANS
AKJ/
