April 2026: Pendency falls by 320 cases

April closed with 92,823 cases pending in Court, a decrease of 320 cases since March. This is the second time this year that pendency has fallen, raising hopes of a gradual improvement in institutional functioning.

Notably, the Court had 21 working days this month compared to 13 in March. Its rate of disposal is significant given that nine judges of the Court were engaged for 10 days with the Sabarimala Reference.

Figure 1 provides a monthly breakdown of total pending cases in the Supreme Court from November 2025 to April 2026. While pendency rose considerably over the first three months, it fluctuated in the second phase.

Pendency over the years

Figure 2 tracks an annual increase in pending cases from April 2020 to April 2026.

This year marks the steepest increase on record, with 11,022 cases added to the docket. This figure is higher than the increase of 8057 cases which occurred between 2022-2023 when then CJI D.Y. Chandrachud decided to include Miscellaneous Applications, Unregistered Matters, and Defective Caseș in the total count.

*Note: Data up to April 2024 was sourced from the Indian Judiciary Annual Reports released by the Supreme Court, while the 2025 and 2026 figures were collected from the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). 

Constitution Bench pendency

Figure 3 illustrates the number of Constitution Bench cases pending in the Supreme Court. Main pending matters are shown on the left, and connected matters (which are cleared once the main matter is decided) are shown on the right.

As of April, 29 Constitution Bench cases are pending before the Supreme Court. This figure has remained unchanged since February. The corresponding figure for April 2025 was 28.

Developments are anticipated on this front as judgement was reserved in the nine-judge Definition of Industry matter in March. Final arguments are currently ongoing in the second nine-judge case, the Sabarimala Reference.

Sharp rise in institutions and disposals

Figure 4 shows the number of cases instituted and disposed of in April 2026. Institutions are of cases filed in the Court, while disposals represent those decided, dismissed or disposed of. If institutions outpace disposals, pendency increases and vice versa.

Over 3000 more cases were disposed of in April compared to March, bringing the total to 7841. There was also a rise in institutions, totalling 7256 cases, an increase of 1,108 from the previous month.

**Note: Typically we refer to figures from the last day of the month but it appears that this month, figures on the NJDG were only updated by 5 May. We cross-check institution and disposal numbers with the Justice Clock which usually align on the fifth of each month. This time, the Justice Clock recorded four more disposals than the NJDG.