October 2026: Pendency hits record high, soars past 96,000

Pendency in the Supreme Court reached 96,987 cases by the end of October 2026, the highest record this year and in the last decade. This is 1968 cases more than September 2026, where pendency stood at 95,019 cases. 

Figure 1 plots the pendency recorded in 2026 so far. The year started with over 92,000 cases in January 2026. It dropped in February by over 800 cases, only to rise again in March. 

April and May saw a steady decline. June recorded a sharp increase by 1800 cases as the Court entered its Partial Court Working Days (PCWDs) during Summer. 

Pendency continued to increase after the PCWDs in July, followed by a drop of 1000 cases in August. September saw a minor climb by 380 cases. 

October saw the highest net increase recorded this year—1968 cases. This was more than June where the Court was only partially working. 

Interestingly, three judges were appointed to the Court in October, the second round of appointments after the Court’s sitting strength was increased from 34 to 38 judges to tackle the backlog.

Pendency in October: 2021-2026

Figure 2 reviews the number of cases pending in October from 2021 to 2026. 

October 2021 had 69,922 cases pending. This declined by 141 cases in 2022. 

October 2023 saw a substantial increase due to the change in counting methodology adopted in November 2022. 

October 2024 witnessed a rise of over 3500 cases but the largest jump was in 2025 when the Court recorded 90,250 cases. At that time, we asked if the Court was approaching a pendency crisis as it breached the 90,000 mark for the first time.

Notably, there was no change in counting methodology in 2024 or 2025.

Constitution Bench Pendency 

Figure 3 records the total number of Constitution Bench references pending before the top court. 

These numbers have remained largely unchanged since last month, except for a drop in seven-judge matters by one. The reference on legislative privileges and freedom of speech was disposed of in the first week of October as infructuous. The issue had been pending since 2003. 

This month, the NJDG displayed two nine-judge bench matters pending before the top court. One of them concerning the Definition of “Industry” under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 was decided in August 2026. A decision in the Sabarimala Reference is pending for five months after its judgement was reserved in May 2026. In October, it was reported that Justice B.V. Nagarathna was the first judge to start writing the verdict.

7668 institutions, 5210 disposals

Figure 4 plots the total number of Institutions (Red) and Disposals (Yellow) recorded in 2026. 

Institutions refers to the total number of cases filed in the top court while disposals refers to the number of cases dismissed or decided. If disposals outpace institutions, pendency decreases as the Court is deciding more matters than it receives—clearing the previous backlog in the process. 

Disposals have outperformed institutions only four times this year in February, April, May and August. However, the difference between disposals and institutions is smaller in these months than the difference recorded for the remaining seven months when pendency increased. For instance, October 2026 alone had 2458 more institutions than disposals while August recorded only 543 more disposals than institutions. 

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 time, the NJDG recorded one more institution and one less disposal than the Justice Clock.