One can’t expect high courts to expeditiously decide cases while working at 50% strength: SC

One can't expect high courts to "cope" with all the matters expeditiously if they were functioning with half the strength, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday as it refused to entertain a petition seeking a direction to the Allahabad High Court to expeditiously dispose of an appeal.

“If high courts are functioning at half the strength, how do you expect them to cope with all the matters as expeditiously as you want? There are older matters pending... Go and make a request (to the high court)," a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta said after the petitioner’s counsel submitted that the matter has been pending before the high court for more than 13 years.

"The high courts are not under the supervisory control of this court," the Bench said, refusing to hear the petition.

As the counsel said the petitioner had already moved two applications in the high court for early disposal of his appeal, the Bench said, "Continue filing…"

The Bench allowed the petitioner to approach the high court for an early listing and disposal of the appeal. Upon such an application being filed, the same would be considered accordingly, it said.

Recalling his own days as an advocate practising before the Allahabad High Court for a number of years, Justice Nath said he knew how much effort one had to make to get matters listed.

"Two applications are nothing. You may have to file hundreds of applications to get your matter listed," Justice Nath told the petitioner’s lawyer.

According to official data, 25 high courts across India were functioning with only 792 judges against a sanctioned strength of 1,122, with 330 posts remaining vacant as on September 1, 2025. In the Allahabad High Court – the largest high court in India – 76 of the total 160 sanctioned posts of judges were vacant as on September 1, 2025.

In the Punjab and Haryana High Court, 25 of the total 85 sanctioned posts of judges were vacant as on September 1, 2025 while Himachal Pradesh functioned with only 11 judges against the sanctioned strength of 17.