Supreme Court Sets Unprecedented Record Of Case Disposals In 2023

The Supreme Court recorded an unprecedented rate of disposal in 2023, by disposing of 52191 cases from 1 January 2023 to 15 December 2023.

As per the Court statistics, the total disposal in the year 2023 stands at 52,191 in comparison to the total registration of cases which was 49,191. This means that this year, the Supreme Court was able to dispose of more cases as compared to the cases registered during the said period.

The total institution i.e. number of cases diarised during the said period, is 52,660 cases. The yearly disposal figure of 52,191 stands almost neck-to-neck with the total institution figure.

The disposal is highest in terms of numbers since ICMIS (Integrated Case Management Information System) was implemented in the year 2017

The reforms initiated by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud have facilitated the high disposal rates. Since the timeframe of listing of cases was streamlined, the delay for listing of the cases was reduced from 10 days to 5-7 days after verification of the matter.

The use of technology was also a contributing factor. The Supreme Court embraced digital platforms and modern case management systems to enhance efficiency and reduce procedural delays. E-filing, virtual hearings, and digital record-keeping played pivotal roles in facilitating a faster and more accessible justice system.

Special priority was given to cases involving personal liberty issues. Matters such as Bail, Habeas Corpus, Eviction matters, Demolition, and Anticipatory bail were processed in one day and listed in courts immediately.

In the full court meeting, it was resolved that Monday and Friday would be miscellaneous days and Tuesday would be specifically kept for after-notice miscellaneous matters. Further, Wednesday and Thursday were categorized as regular matter days. The result of the said strategy impacted the disposal of matters where the important matters were disposed of category-wise. With regard to the disposal of Regular matters, the said strategic intervention resulted in three times the disposal of the number of matters instituted during the said period. Specialized benches were constituted to handle specific categories of cases, leading to a more specialized and efficient adjudication process.

The decision to constitute special benches resulted in expeditious disposal of special category matters with special emphasis on personal liberty matters, eviction matters, and service matters. The same is evident from the appraisal of disposal wherein 4410 service matters were disposed of, 11489 criminal matters were disposed of and 10348 civil matters were disposed of during the period of 1.1.2023 to 15.12.2023. This unprecedented disposal also constituted the identification of batch matters and their disposal. In one of the instances, 392 Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) cases were disposed of by the Court in a single instance and in another case 700 matters were heard and reserved for judgment. Similarly, a number of courts disposed of batch matters.

Statement of Constitution Bench matters of 2023