24 cases in SC are over two decades old: Govt

New Delhi, March 10: The Supreme Court of India has 24 cases pending for over two decades, Minister of Law and Justice H R Bhardwaj informed the Lok Sabha on Monday. The minister said till November one last year, there were 15 cases in the apex court which were more than 25 years old. Nine pending cases were 20 years old, he said. The apex court disposed of 61,957 cases during the last calender year, the minister said in a reply. Among the High Courts, the Delhi High Court tops the list of maximum number of pending cases with 1,121 cases still to be decided till June 30 last year. The Uttarakhand High Court had 112 pending cases till November 22 last year and the Chattisgarh High Court had 10 pending cases till January 31, the House was informed. In terms of disposal of cases, the Madras High Court topped the list by deciding 2.35 lakh cases during the last year. The Allahabad High Court had the next best case disposal rate with a tally of 1.95 lakh cases, followed by the Bombay High Court which decided 1.27 lakh cases, the House was told. New HC benches: Requests for establishment of new High Court benches have been received by the Central government from state governments of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat and Orissa. However, these requests do not have the concurrence of the Chief Justices of the concerned High Courts, the House was informed. Jharkhand HC: The government has decided to increase the sanctioned strength of judges in the Jharkhand High Court from 12 to 20. At present, the working strength of the High Court is nine, the minister said in another reply. Bureau Report