New Delhi, Aug 04, 2022, By Special Correspondent

New Delhi, Aug 4: Over 10,000 cases in the Supreme Court are awaiting disposal for over a decade, out of a staggering 71,411 cases pending before it, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said Thursday.

The pending cases included over 56,000 civil matters and over 15,000 criminal matters, he informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

Similarly, out of 10,491 cases pending for over ten years, more than 42,000 cases were pending for less than five years and 18,134 between five and 10 years.

In reply to another question, Rijiju said 59,55,907 cases were pending in various high courts as on July 29 this year -- a sharp rise of 50 per cent over 40,28,591 cases in 2016.

District and subordinate courts also saw a 50 per cent jump in cases between 2016 and July 29 this year. While in 2016, over 2.82 crore cases were pending, the figure stood at over 4.24 crore this year.

Disposal of pending cases in courts is within the domain of the judiciary. Though filing and disposal of cases in different courts is a continuous process, no time frame has been prescribed for disposal of various kinds of cases by the respective courts, Rijiju said.