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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Indian courts are operating like a lottery. They need smarter case scheduling

Our court scheduling has been unpredictable for so long that every participant has adapted to it. Litigants, too, have learned that non-appearance is tolerated, and adjournments are the norm.

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s announcement that the Supreme Court will use artificial intelligence to handle case listing and bench allocation is a welcome one. In 2018, four Supreme Court judges publicly raised concerns about how constitutional bench cases were assigned. An algorithmic roster with a clear audit trail to decide which judge hears which case is a meaningful institutional response.

But this addresses only half of the problem — who hears which case. The other half of that question is: Will my case be heard at all? This matters far more to the millions of Indians whose cases languish in court. Most cases are not sensitive matters of constitutional law. They are cheque bouncing cases, bail applications, motor accident claims, land and property matters in lower courts that are already short on judges. 

Our emerging analysis of the Bombay High Court’s Original Side cases in TheProfesseer’s database indicates that in recent years, nearly 50 per cent of the listed matters on any given date are not heard. Of those that are heard, 30 per cent are non-substantive (adjournments). Only one in five cases actually make progress. District courts show similar numbers. 

In December 2025, IndiGo cancelling about 10 per cent of its scheduled flights was a national crisis. It was on the news channels, there were questions asked in Parliament, a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court called the system alarming. The CEO resigned. 

Courts operate with a worse mismatch every day. Nobody calls it a crisis because it has always been this way.  

The impact on the........

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