33 million cases pending in Indian courts

There were an estimated 33 million cases pending in Indian courts as at January 2018, according to the National Judicial Data Grid.

Ranjan Gogoi, who took his oath as India’s New Chief Justice on Wednesday, indicated that he intends to tackle the huge backlog of cases awaiting decisions in Indian Courts.

Gogoi at a function of Monday said he had a plan to resolve the problem, the Times of India newspaper reported.

Gogoi is also expected to bring in more transparency into the way the rosters are decided in the court.

He is one of the four judges who held an unprecedented press conference in January when they raised grievances regarding the functioning of the Supreme Court, especially then-chief justice Dipak Misra’s allocation of important cases to other judges.

At the centre of the controversy was the assigning of a case demanding a probe into a judge’s death to a junior judge of the Supreme Court.

Judge BH Loya, who was trying a case of murder against ruling Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, died of a cardiac arrest in December 2014 but some lawyers and family members alleged a cover-up.

The Supreme Court has dismissed the demand for a probe.

Gogoi, 63, the son of a former chief minister of the state of Assam, is the first Supreme Court chief justice from India’s north-eastern region.

Gogoi is one of the few Supreme Court judges who have made their assets public.

He does not own a house or a vehicle and has no outstanding debts.