The lower judiciary — litigation, pendency, stagnation

Introduction

India’s subordinate judiciary, which handles the bulk of civil and criminal cases, now faces a crisis of litigation, pendency and stagnation. Despite constitutional safeguards and High Court supervision, huge backlogs, vacancies, weak infrastructure, procedural hurdles and uneven training have slowed justice delivery, making timely, accessible and effective adjudication a major challenge at the trial level. The lower judiciary — litigation, pendency, stagnation.

What is Subordinate Judiciary?

Subordinate courts work at the district and lower levels under the supervision of the High Court. Articles 233 to 237 of Part VI of the the Constitution regulate their organisation and ensure independence from the executive.

District Judges are appointed, posted and promoted by the Governor in consultation with the High Court, while judges below that level are appointed after consulting the State Public Service Commission and the High Court.

A three-tier structure operates: District and Sessions Courts at the top, various subordinate civil and criminal courts and special courts below, with appeals ultimately lying to the High Court.

Significance of Subordinate Judiciary

1. Accessibility to justice: It is the first point of contact for most people, making justice accessible in their local communities. This is vital for rural populations and ensures that judicial reach extends to all strata of society.
2. Handling the majority of cases: These courts handle the largest volume of cases, managing over 85% of all civil and criminal matters in the country.
3. Enforcing the rule of law: By addressing a wide range of disputes, from petty offenses to major crimes, the subordinate judiciary plays a critical role in maintaining law and order and upholding the rule of law at the local level.
4. Reducing the burden on higher courts: By effectively managing and resolving cases at the district and lower levels, these courts prevent the Supreme Court and High Courts from being overwhelmed.
5. Facilitating local dispute resolution: They handle a variety of civil matters like disputes over property, contracts, and family law, resolving issues between individuals and organizations at the local level.

Major Concerns related to Subordinate Judicial Service

1.Huge case backlog: As per NJDG data about 4.7 crore cases are pending in district and subordinate courts, out of 5.34 crore cases across all courts.

2.Delay justice: India Justice Report (IJR) 2025 notes that of 5.1 crore cases pending in high courts and district courts (Jan 2025), 12% are over 10 years old, 22% are 5–10 years, and around 61% (HC) and 46% (district) have been pending for more than three years, showing systemic delay at the trial level.

3.Overburdening: At the district court level, the average workload rose to 2,200 cases per judge. Prime hours are spent on clerical tasks instead of recording evidence, hearing arguments, and writing judgments, so judges function more like ministerial officers than adjudicators.

4. High Vacancies in Subordinate Judiciary:

• According to IJR 2025, sanctioned subordinate-court strength is 25,771 judges, but only 20,478 are in place (about 15 judges per 10 lakh people), and vacancies in subordinate courts have stayed between 21–22% from 2018-19 to 2025.
• The 2023 “State of the Judiciary” report also recorded 5,300 vacancies in the district judiciary.

5. Infrastructure Gap: Over 40% of district and subordinate courts lack basic facilities such as modern computers, reliable internet, and video-conferencing equipment.
6. Access to Justice & Physical Accessibility: only 30.4% of district-court complexes have separate PwD washrooms, more than half lack ramps, only about 25%provide wheelchairs, and roughly 5% have tactile paving, making subordinate courts difficult to use for persons with disabilities.
7. Administrative and procedural challenges

• Judges spend a large part of the day on calling cases, issuing summons, and checking files instead of deciding disputes.
• Archaic procedures and multiple technical steps create frequent delay points, which are often used by parties to postpone hearings and execution.

Major Reasons for Delay

1. Judges doing clerical work: Subordinate judges spend prime hours calling cases, issuing summons, and receiving vakalatnamas instead of recording evidence and writing judgments.
2. Inexperienced and underprepared judges: Many new judges lack prior practice at the Bar, struggle with workload and procedure, and sometimes fail to pass clear, timely orders.
3. Mandatory pre-suit mediation in commercial cases: Section 12(a) of the Commercial Courts Act requires mediation before filing, even when parties have already exchanged notices and failed to settle, so it simply adds a new layer of delay.
4. Cooling-off and separation rules in mutual consent divorce: The six-month cooling-off period and one-year separation requirement in mutual consent divorce slow down disposal and often lead to further proceedings on whether these conditions can be relaxed.
5. Confusion and forum issues under the new Rent Act: The insistence on a written registered lease and conflicting views on rent court jurisdiction allow the same dispute to go to civil or commercial courts, creating forum confusion and extra litigation.
6. Two-stage decrees in partition suits: Separate preliminary and final decrees, plus a fresh application for final decree, turn partition cases into long, staggered processes.
7. Hyper-technical rules for execution of decrees: Order XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure has 106 detailed rules that judgment debtors can use to obstruct execution, forcing decree-holders to visit court for years to realise their claims.

Way Forward

1. Ministerial court: Create a separate “ministerial” court in each district to handle calling cases, issuing summons, receiving vakalatnamas, written statements and recording ex parte evidence.
2. Raise judge strength: States must fill all sanctioned posts quickly and increase sanctioned strength in low-ratio states, in line with the Law Commission 120th Report and Supreme Court directions to move towards 50 judges per million population.
3. Ensure experience-based entry: New civil judges should have minimum practice experience at the Bar; the Supreme Court has now restored the 3-year practice requirement for Civil Judge (Junior Division).
4. Career progression: Ensure merit-based promotion and proper use of LDCE quota for faster promotion of efficient officers.
5. Strong training: Each new civil/senior civil judge should undergo structured training at High 6. Court Benches, observing hearings, use of precedents and order-writing.
6. Raise state judicial spending above the current ~0.59% of state budgets and improve per capita spend, as flagged by India Justice Report 2025.

Conclusion

A stronger subordinate judiciary is essential for real access to justice, not just a formal right on paper. If clerical work is removed from judges, vacancies are filled, procedures are simplified, and training, infrastructure and funding are improved, district courts can move from pendency and stagnation towards faster, reliable and citizen-centred justice.

Question for practice

Examine the major concerns and causes of delay in India’s subordinate judiciary and suggest a suitable way forward to strengthen its functioning.

Source: The Hindu, India Justice Report (IJR) 2025