The pendency of cases in the Supreme Court is 22,047 cases, in the High Courts 35.16 lakh cases and in the subordinate courts 2.04 crore cases.

    Inadequate judge strength throughout the country is the similar biggest factor for huge backlog of cases. For a country with one billion plus population, a total number of only about 13000 judicial officers, from the lowest level to the Supreme Court are available.

    Various steps have been taken by the Government for the speedy disposal of both civil and criminal cases. These include amendment of the Civil Procedure Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, increase in the number of posts of judges and judicial officers, establishment of special courts and tribunals, computerization of courts and adoption of alternative modes of dispute resolution, such as, arbitration and conciliation. Lok Adalats have been given statutory base as supplementary forum for resolution of disputes.

    Two Bills , such as, the Code of Criminal Procedure, (Amendment) Bill, 1994 and the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2000 have been introduced in the Parliament and are pending before Parliament for consideration. The Government has recently appointed a Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Justice V.S. Mallimath, to suggest measures for revamping of criminal justice system.

    In addition, the Government has sanctioned a scheme involving an amount of Rs. 502.90 crore for creation of 1434 Fast Track Courts for expeditious disposal of long pending sessions cases and cases involving undertrials in jail, on priority. The scheme is in operation since April 1, 2001. So far, more than 800 Fast Track Courts have been set up in the States and Union Territories.

    Besides, a pilot project for the computerization and networking of all courts in the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai has been taken up in the current financial year to serve as a model for other courts in the country.