The Supreme Court has raised serious concerns over the mounting backlog at the Allahabad High Court, noting that each judge is handling between 15,000 and 20,000 cases. In disposing of a plea filed by a 95-year-old litigant awaiting a verdict on her second appeal since 2013, the court underscored the urgent need to fill judicial vacancies.
A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan directed that the plea be treated as a representation to the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, urging action on the decades-long pendency of cases. The court acknowledged the strain on the High Court, which operates with just 84 judges against a sanctioned strength of 160.
“In the past two months, we have encountered numerous writ petitions from litigants whose cases have been stalled for over three decades,” the bench observed. “The only solution is to expedite the appointment of qualified judges based purely on merit.”
To address the crisis, the Supreme Court ordered that a copy of the writ petition be forwarded to the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, recommending immediate administrative measures.
This follows the court’s recent push for the appointment of retired judges on an ad hoc basis to alleviate the burden of pending cases.