Srinagar, July 13: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is currently functioning with only 12 judges against a sanctioned strength of 17 while carrying a pendency of 44,508 cases, according to the latest data from the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and official court records.

The High Court has been functioning under Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Kumar since June 1, following the transfer of Justice Arun Palli after his elevation to the Supreme Court of India.
According to the data, 29,882 cases—67.14 per cent of the total pendency—have remained pending for more than one year. Of the total pending matters, 34,807 are civil cases and 9,701 are criminal cases.
Civil litigation continues to dominate the docket, with 24,171 cases (69.44 per cent) pending for over a year. In the criminal category, 5,711 cases, accounting for 58.87 per cent of the total criminal pendency, have also remained unresolved for more than a year.
The records further reveal that the oldest case pending before the High Court dates back to 1991, highlighting the long-standing backlog of litigation.
During the current calendar year, the High Court registered 7,459 fresh cases, comprising 5,644 civil and 1,815 criminal matters. During the same period, it disposed of 6,035 cases, including 4,613 civil and 1,422 criminal cases.
Writ petitions account for the largest share of pending litigation. The High Court currently has 21,960 pending writ petitions, including 21,731 civil writ petitions and 229 criminal writ petitions. Besides this, 639 review petitions and 826 revision petitions remain pending.
The Jammu Wing accounts for the larger share of the pendency, with 28,230 pending cases. Of these, 19,973 cases (70.75 per cent) have been pending for more than one year.
The wing has 21,779 pending civil matters, including 15,859 that are over a year old, and 6,451 criminal cases, of which 4,114 have remained pending beyond one year.
The oldest pending cases at the Jammu Wing date back to 1996, with four such matters still awaiting disposal.
So far this year, the Jammu Wing has instituted 4,068 fresh cases and disposed of 3,711. It also has 13,189 pending writ petitions, along with 474 review petitions and 535 revision petitions.
The Srinagar Wing has a pendency of 16,278 cases, comprising 13,028 civil and 3,250 criminal matters.
Of these, 9,909 cases (60.87 per cent) have remained pending for more than one year. Among civil matters, 8,312 cases have crossed the one-year mark, while 1,597 criminal cases have remained pending for over a year.
The oldest pending matter at the Srinagar Wing also dates back to 1991.
During the current year, the Srinagar Wing registered 3,391 fresh cases and disposed of 2,324. It presently has 8,771 pending writ petitions, besides 165 review petitions and 291 revision petitions.
According to the NJDG, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh ranks 21st among India's 25 High Courts in terms of pending cases. Only the High Courts of Manipur (6,232 cases), Meghalaya (1,991), Tripura (1,599) and Sikkim (314) have a lower pendency.
The Allahabad High Court continues to have the country's highest backlog with 12,28,995 pending cases, followed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court with 2,53,490 and the Delhi High Court with 1,25,199 pending matters.
In terms of cumulative disposal, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has disposed of 4,00,701 cases, placing it 20th among the country's 25 High Courts. The Allahabad High Court tops the list with 64,69,249 disposed cases, while the Sikkim High Court has recorded the lowest disposal at 3,243 cases. The Andhra Pradesh and Delhi High Courts have disposed of 10,61,546 and 9,86,095 cases, respectively.