Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant has constituted four special Division Benches of the Supreme Court to exclusively hear the court’s oldest pending civil and criminal matters, as part of a major administrative reform aimed at reducing the judicial backlog through structured docket management.
The new roster, which came into effect on July 13, 2026, marks one of the first significant institutional measures introduced under the tenure of CJI Kant to ensure the time-bound disposal of legacy litigation and strengthen the efficiency of the Apex Court’s case management system.
The initiative is expected to fast-track the hearing of nearly 800 long-pending matters that have been identified for priority adjudication. According to the revised roster, each of the four benches will initially take up around 200 of the oldest pending cases for continuous hearing.
Under the revised roster, two Division Benches headed by Justice PK Mishra and Justice SVN Bhatti will exclusively hear the oldest civil appeals and other civil proceedings on non-miscellaneous days, namely Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Two other Division Benches headed by Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan will exclusively hear the oldest pending criminal matters on the same days. These benches will remain free from the regular burden of miscellaneous hearings, enabling uninterrupted hearings of long-pending cases.
The roster notification provides that the benches headed by Justice PK Mishra and Justice SVN Bhatti shall exclusively deal with the oldest civil matters on non-miscellaneous days, while the benches headed by Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan shall exclusively hear the oldest criminal matters during the same period.
The Supreme Court’s latest initiative follows the resumption of regular court functioning after the reduced working schedule during the summer vacation. The move intends to accelerate the disposal of cases that have remained pending for several years, including some decades-old matters.
Explaining the rationale behind the move, CJI Surya Kant indicated that the judiciary has a constitutional obligation not only to adjudicate disputes but also to ensure that justice is delivered within a reasonable timeframe so that public confidence in the rule of law is maintained. He observed that every old pending matter represents a litigant awaiting finality, and that the age of a case should never become a reason for its continued pendency.
According to the CJI, the creation of dedicated benches seeks to institutionalise a system under which legacy cases receive sustained and uninterrupted judicial attention rather than being repeatedly deferred because of changing rosters or competing urgent matters. He further indicated that the disposal of long-pending cases reinforces the credibility of the justice delivery system and upholds the constitutional principle that justice should not be defeated by the mere passage of time.
The reform represents the Supreme Court’s first structured docket-management exercise in recent years and reflects a shift from ad hoc disposal drives towards calibrated judicial administration. Instead of relying solely on increasing judicial strength, the initiative seeks to improve case flow management by earmarking dedicated judicial time for legacy litigation.
According to data available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), the Supreme Court currently has 95,911 pending cases, comprising 74,145 civil matters and 21,766 criminal matters. Of these, 37,826 cases, or about 39.4 per cent, are less than one year old, indicating that a substantial portion of the court’s docket consists of older matters awaiting final adjudication.
The move is also consistent with the CJI’s broader agenda for judicial reforms. During the inauguration of the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Indian Institute of Arbitration and Mediation (IIAM) a day earlier, Justice Kant had highlighted that India’s pendency crisis, with more than five crore cases pending across courts, cannot be resolved through conventional adjudication alone.
He had stressed the need for greater reliance on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms, including arbitration, mediation and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), to reduce fresh litigation while simultaneously pursuing internal judicial reforms to address existing arrears.
The constitution of four dedicated benches for hearing the oldest pending matters is therefore expected to ensure continuous hearings, minimise delays arising from roster changes, and enhance judicial efficiency through systematic case allocation and structured docket management, while reinforcing public confidence in the administration of justice.
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