Five states contribute to 96% of court cases older than 20 years
India's district and subordinate courts, the first rung of the judicial hierarchy, had 48 million pending cases as of March 2026. Of these, over 650,000 cases were pending for over 20 years, and over 75,000 were older than 30 years.
Five states - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Odisha - are the major contributors to India's oldest court backlogs, accounting for 96% of all cases older than 20 years in lower courts.
Pendency in these five states is high not just at the level of lower courts, but also at the High Court level. These five states together account for 46% of India's population, but for 56% of all pending cases.
India's Supreme Court in 2024 recommended a detailed strategy for a phase-by-phase reduction of pendency, prioritising the disposal of cases older than 30 years, 20-30 years and 10-20 years, in that order. For these five states, the plan called for complete disposal of cases older than 30 years by June 2025, and the disposal of all cases in the 20-30 years bracket by December 2025.
However, these states have not been able to meet the target. Nationally as well, the number of cases in the 20-30 years bracket increased by 20% since 2022.
Read more about the types of cases that clog India's courts here.
