Over 3,500 PILs pending in Supreme Court, Law Ministry reports

News Topical, Digital Desk : The Supreme Court currently has over 3,500 public interest litigation (PILs) pending. Of these, 698 have been pending for more than 10 years. The oldest case has not been decided in 42 years.

Most public interest litigation (PILs) relate to environmental issues, land laws, and agricultural tenancy. In some cases, the petitioners have died, but the legal process is still ongoing.

Total pending cases cross 80,000

According to data shared by the Law Ministry, the total number of pending cases on the court's docket has crossed 80,000. Despite the disposal of 1,872 public interest litigations in the last five years, the backlog shows no signs of abating.

A total of 3,525 PILs are pending in the SC.

Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal told the Lok Sabha last week that a total of 3,525 public interest litigations were pending in the Supreme Court as of March 10. The average time taken to dispose of PILs is unknown. Meghwal said the highest number of pending PILs has been recorded since 2014.

Meghwal said that among the pending PILs filed since 2014, the highest number of petitions were filed in 2025 at 570, followed by 347 in 2019, 306 in 2020 and 293 in 2026.

The oldest cases

The oldest PIL pending for decision in the Supreme Court was filed in 1984, two more PILs are pending since 1985, all three are MC Mehta vs Union of India, two are related to environmental laws and one is related to housing and building municipal laws.

Two public interest litigations related to contempt of court—Mohammed Hashim (deceased) in Iqbal Ansar vs. Shri Kalyan Singh and Aslam Bhure vs. S.B. Chauhan—have been pending since 1995 and 1996, respectively. Many of the people who filed these public interest litigations have passed away while their cases are pending.

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