The Supreme Court has disposed of 6,844 cases since Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud took over as the country’s top judge on November 9. The court has also received 5,898 new cases in the same period of one month and seven days. It is a rare feat on the part of the court that the rate of disposal of cases has exceeded the rate of institution of new cases.
The pace of disposal of cases under Chief Justice Chandrachud has also increased, even as the CJI has said that every little cry for justice would be heard by the Supreme Court. The court under Chief Justice Chandrachud’s immediate predecessor, Justice U.U. Lalit, had disposed of over 10,000 cases during his 74-day tenure.
The number of cases disposed daily from November 9 to December 16, when the court went into winter recess, has been a minimum of 90 to the highest at 277.
The court has disposed of a total of 2,511 transfer and bail petitions from November 9 to December 16. Of this, 1,353 were bail applications and 1,163 transfer petitions. The court has dealt with at least two to 87 bail pleas a day, and six to 105 transfer requests daily.
Chief Justice Chandrachud had on November 18, after a Full Court meeting, pressed the accelerator on hearing and disposing of pending pleas for bail and transfer petitions in the Supreme Court.
Since then, all 13 Benches of the court had been hearing 10 cases each of bail and transfer petitions first thing every morning before their board of regular cases listed for the day. The CJI said the court was trying to complete its pending list of these cases before the winter holidays.
Transfer petitions mostly relate to matrimonial and family cases. Litigants usually seek inter-State transfer of their cases. For example, a separated wife or husband may seek transfer of their divorce case to a court nearer to the place of their residence or the city, where they work, for convenience. These cases do not pose complicated legal issues but tend to pile up in the apex court. The uncertainty causes distress to litigants.
“There are around 3,000 transfer petitions pending here. Every one of the 13 Benches will take up 10 transfer petitions everyday. They will deal with 650 petitions every week. In five weeks, all the transfer petitions will be over,” Chief Justice Chandrachud had said on November 18.
