Supreme Court Constitutes Four Special Benches to Hear Oldest Pending Cases

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant constitutes four special division benches in the Supreme Court to exclusively hear and resolve the oldest pending civil and criminal cases. The benches hear uninterrupted on non-miscellaneous days, and this arrangement separates long-pending matters from fresh miscellaneous filings.

Supreme Court Special Benches for Oldest Pending Cases:

Dimension	Key Details
Constituting authority	Chief Justice of India Surya Kant authorises and has notified 4 special division benches to clear the Supreme Court’s oldest pending cases.
Total benches and allocation	Comprises 4 division benches: 2 civil benches and 2 criminal benches.
Civil benches	Provides for 2 benches headed by Justice P K Mishra and Justice S V N Bhatti to hear old civil disputes.
Criminal benches	Provides for 2 benches led by Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan to hear legacy criminal cases.
Hearing schedule	Mandates uninterrupted hearing of long-pending regular matters on non-miscellaneous days, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
Miscellaneous days	Regulates fresh miscellaneous filings to be heard on Mondays and Fridays.
Pendency status	States that overall pendency has continued to rise and has recently crossed the 90,000 mark.
Fresh filings in 2025	Records 75,402 fresh filings in 2025 alone.
Drivers of increased intake	Links exponential intake to increased physical and digital accessibility, including e-filings and virtual hearings.
Pendency paradox factors	Identifies outpaced disposal as a factor where incoming litigation consistently outpaces disposal capacity.