Srinagar, Aug 07 (KNO): As many as 3,65,645 cases are pending in district and subordinate courts of Jammu and Kashmir, including 63,876 cases pending for more than five years and 20,767 cases pending for over 10 years, the Union Ministry of Law and Justice informed the Lok Sabha on Friday.
As per the reply by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal to an unstarred question by MP Sasikanth Senthil, the figures are based on data available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) as on July 30, 2026.
The ministry, as reported by the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that in Jammu and Kashmir, district and subordinate courts have 3,65,645 pending cases. Of these, 20,767 cases have remained pending for more than 10 years, while 63,876 cases have been pending for more than five years.
Sasikanth Senthil had asked the government about the total number of pending cases in the Supreme Court, High Courts and district and subordinate courts, including cases pending for more than five and 10 years. He also sought details of funds approved and utilised under the e-Courts Project and steps being taken to reduce pendency and strengthen judicial infrastructure.
In response, Meghwal said that as per NJDG data, 44,557 cases were pending before the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as on July 30, 2026. Of these, 6,106 cases were pending for more than 10 years, and 7,328 cases had been pending for more than five years.
For Ladakh, the Ministry said 1,745 cases were pending in district and subordinate courts as on July 30, 2026. Of these, 12 cases had been pending for more than 10 years, while 98 cases had been pending for more than five years.
On the e-Courts Project, Meghwal said the government has approved Phase III for 2023-27 with a budget outlay of Rs 7,210 crore. The phase aims to transform courts into digital and paperless courts, expand video conferencing facilities to all courts, jails and hospitals, and integrate stakeholders of the criminal justice system.
The minister said the project also envisages universal saturation of eSewa Kendras, a cloud-based repository for digitised court records and deployment of emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR), for case analysis and forecasting.
"More than 753 crore pages of court records have been digitised so far, while 2,584 eSewa Kendras have been established across the country. Courts have conducted more than 4.18 crore hearings through video conferencing and around 1.25 crore cases have been filed electronically through the eFiling platform," he said.
According to the ministry, Rs 3,225 crore was allocated under Phase III of the e-Courts Project from 2023-24 to 2026-27, against which Rs 2,543.81 crore had been spent.
The government also said the primary responsibility for development of infrastructure facilities for district and subordinate courts rests with state governments and UT administrations. However, the Centre has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for development of judicial infrastructure since 1993-94.
The scheme covers court halls, residential units for judicial officers, lawyers' halls, toilet complexes and digital computer rooms. The Centre has provided Rs 12,858.25 crore to States and UTs under the scheme since its inception, the reply said—(KNO)