August 2026: Pendency decreases by 1079 cases

By the end of August, pendency in the Supreme Court stood at 94,639 cases after a significant spike in July that pushed it beyond the 95,000 mark. As on 1 August, the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) recorded a decrease of 1079 cases from the 95,718 cases pending in July. 

In August, the Court witnessed the most number of working days after the Partial Working Days, which lasted the whole of June and the first two weeks of July. The increased working days reflected in higher disposal numbers. Disposals exceeded institutions for the first time since May.

Pendency since January 2026

Figure 1 visualises the Court’s pendency since January 2026. 

Between January and April, the pendency has moved in a zig-zag. In May, the pendency continued to decline for the second consecutive month before rising by 1885 counts in June. In July, pendency crossed the 95,000 mark owing to the surge in institutions as compared to disposals during the Partial Court Working Days. 

In August, the Court worked full steam, alongside Special Benches functioning to hear legacy matters. This may have contributed to the dip in pendency numbers. 

August pendency since 2020

Figure 2 illustrates the pendency between August 2020 and 2026. 

As seen from the figure, pendency increased sharply by nearly 8,000 counts between 2020-2021, which can be attributed to increased institutions over disposal during the COVID years. Between 2021-22, pendency increased very slightly. Pendency hiked between 2022-23 as the Court started including all diarised matters, including Miscellaneous Applications, Unregistered Matters and Defective matters in the pendency count.

Between 2023 and 2026, yearly pendency continued to be on the rise, with an average increase of over 5000 cases per year.

Constitution Bench Pendency 

Figure 3 shows the pending Constitution Bench matters as on 1 September 2026.

As on 1 September 2026, there are 22 five-judge bench, five seven-judge bench and two nine-judge bench matters pending before the Supreme Court. 

Among the two pending nine-judge bench matters are the Sabarimala Reference and the Definition of “Industry”. The Industry reference was answered in State of Uttar Pradesh v Jai Bir Singh in a 489-page judgement in August, which is yet to be updated on NJDG. Judgement has been reserved in the Sabarimala Reference. 

Among the five-judge bench matters, the Court will hear States’ power to impose taxes based on annual turnover and MLA Immunity under Article 194 in September and October respectively.

Institutions and Disposals in September 

Figure 4 shows the total number of cases instituted (filed) and disposed of by the Court during the first eight months of 2026.

Disposals soared over institutions in February, April and May this year. Disposals declined in the subsequent months of June and July. August broke away from the trend of declining disposals, with the Court disposing of 543 cases over total cases filed in August. 

Note: For our pendency, institution and disposal articles, we primarily rely on the data provided on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). We cross-check institution and disposal numbers with the Justice Clock. Typically, on the fifth of each month, the institution and disposal numbers on both portals match. This month, the 5 September figures reflected 274 more disposals on the Justice Clock. To ensure consistency in our data collection, we have reported the NJDG figures in the article.