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2025 Supreme(Online)(SC) 10435
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
J.B. Pardiwala, Pankaj Mithal, JJ
Periyammal – Appellant
Versus
V. Rajamani – Respondent
Miscellaneous Application Nos.1889-1891/2025 | C.A. Nos.3640-3642/2025
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Mrinal Kanwar, Dinesh Kumar Chouhan, Vaibhav Rajsingh Rathore
For the Respondents: Rahul Jain, Kunal Chatterji, Maitrayee Banerjee, Rohit Bansal, Varij Nayan Mishra, Vishnu Shankar Jain, Gopal Jha, Shireesha Sharma, Sawan Datta, Nand Kishore Sharma, Ankit Agrawal, Arjun Garg, Sagun Srivastava, Saaransh Shukla, Muskan Bensla, Sanjai Kumar Pathak, Shashi Pathak, Arvind Kumar Tripathi, Smriti Singh
Delay in the execution of a decree after it has been passed undermines the judicial process and constitutes a travesty of justice, necessitating administrative oversight to ensure expeditious disposal of execution petitions.
Headnote:The Court monitored the implementation of its prior directions dated 6-3-2025, which mandated High Courts to collect data on execution petition pendency and ensure disposal within six months. Upon reviewing consolidated data from various High Courts, the Court noted a significant pendency of 8,82,578 execution petitions nationwide, with only 3,38,685 disposed of in the preceding six months. The Court examined the extent of compliance with the administrative directives to expedite execution proceedings. The ratio decidendi is rooted in the principle that if the execution of a decree takes years, it constitutes a "travesty of justice," necessitating a structured administrative mechanism for effective and expeditious disposal. The Court granted a further six months to all High Courts to follow up with District judiciary and specifically sought an explanation from the Registrar General of the High Court of Karnataka for non-submission of data. The matter is posted for further progress on 10-4-2026.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. review of pendency and disposal data of execution petitions across high courts. (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6) |
| 2. court's disappointment over high pendency and non-compliance by karnataka high court. (Para 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11) |
| 3. necessity of expeditious execution to prevent travesty of justice. (Para 12 , 13 , 14) |
| 4. scheduling future compliance reports and extending deadlines. (Para 15 , 16 , 17 , 18) |
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
1. By our Judgment and Order dated 6-3-2025 rendered in the case of “Periyammal (Dead) through LRs & Ors. vs. V. Rajamani & Anr. Etc.” Reported in (2025) SCC Online SC 507, we had issued directions as contained in Para 75 as under:-
75. In view of the aforesaid, we direct all the High Courts across the country to call for the necessary information from their respective district judiciary as regards pendency of the execution petitions. Once the data is collected by each of the High Courts, the High Courts shall thereafter proceed to issue an administrative order or circular, directing their respective district judiciary to ensure that the execution petitions pending in various courts shall be decided and disposed of within a period of six months without fail otherwise the concerned presiding officer would be answerable to the High Court on its administrative side. Once the entire data along with the figures of pendency and disposal thereafter, is collected by all the High Courts, the same shall be forwarded to the Registry of this Court with individual reports.”
2. In pursuance of our aforesaid directions, we have received a consolidated data of the District judiciary of different High Courts regarding the pendency and disposal of various execution petitions.
3. The consolidated data is as under:-
| Sr. No. | Name of High Court | Pendency as on 06.03.2025 (0-6 months old cases / More than 6 months old cases) | Disposal of execution petitions w.e.f. 6.3.2025 (Within 6 months from the date of institution / Beyond 6 months from the date of institution) | Pendency as per reports furnished District Judiciary of different High Courts (0-6 months old cases / More than 6 months) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allahabad | 29,301 | 7,890 | 3,942 / 23,873 (fresh filing 6,987) Total: 27,815 |
| 2. | Andhra Pradesh (As on 31.03.25) | 15,226 / 57,990 | 2,713 / 2,366 | 12,513 / 55,624 Total: 68,137 |
| 3. | Bombay | 3,61,721 | 73,775 (fresh filing 1,09,319) | 20,446 / 3,20,898 Total: 3,41,344 |
| 4. | Calcutta (As on 01.03.25) | 35,347 | 4,256 | 7,474 / 23,617 Total: 31,091 |
| 5. | Chhattisgarh | 2,431 / 10,700 | 6326 | 3160 / 7699 Total: 10859 |
| 6. | Delhi (As on 30.04.25) | 9,336 / 28,530 | 4,971 / 2,107 | 4,365 / 26,423 (out of which 1009 stayed by High Court) Total: 30,788 |
| 7. | Gauhati | Assam: 1,008 / 5,484 Kohima Bench: 05 / 61 Aizwal Bench: 96 / 347 Itanagar Bench: 43 / 143 Total: 11,52 / 6,035 |
Assam: 245 / 2,484 Kohima: 0 / 04 Aizwal: 33 / 58 Itanagar: 18 / 64 Total: 296 / 2,610 |
Assam: 763 / 3,000 Kohima: 05 / 57 Aizwal: 63 / 289 Itanagar: 25 / 79 Total: 856 / 3,425 Total: 4,281 |
| 8. | Gujarat (As on 28.02.2025) | 33,426 | 22,800 | 10,626 (out of which 1107 stayed by Superior Court) |
| 9. | Himachal Pradesh | 14,304 | 4,211 (fresh filing 3,258) | 2,812 / 9,750 Total: 12,562 |
| 10. | Jammu & Kashmir (As on 01.04.25) | 8,797 | 2,894 (fresh filing 4022) | 9,925 |
| 11. | Jharkhand | 4,258 | 1408 (fresh filing 1074) | 641 / 2942 Total: 3,583 |
| 12. | Karnataka | Data not furnished. | Data not furnished. | Data not furnished. |
| 13. | Kerala | 87,490 | 28,178 (fresh filing 20,124) | 15,968 / 67,029 Total: 82,997 |
| 14. | Madhya Pradesh | 56,686 | 24,458 (fresh filing 25,218) | 18,429 / 33,700 Total: 52,129 |
| 15. | Madras (As on 28.02.2025) | 95,802 | 31,349 (fresh filing 21,752) | 86,148 |
| 16. | Manipur | 550 | 130 (fresh filing 136) | 90 / 466 Total: 556 |
| 17. | Meghalaya | 94 | 81 (fresh filing 42) | 12 / 48 Total: 60 |
| 18. | Orissa | 20,738 | 3,269 | 17,109 |
| 19. | Patna | 21,119 | 5082 (fresh filing 3262) | 1,937 / 15,503 Total: 17,440 |
| 20. | Punjab & Haryana (As on 01.04.25) | Chandigarh: 2,212 Punjab: 53,875 Haryana: 44,580 |
Chandigarh: 1,718 Punjab: 38,852 Haryana: | |
