A total of 4,192 cases against sitting and former MPs and MLAs are pending trial across the country with 519 cases pending for more than a decade, according to a report submitted before the Supreme Court by Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria, appointed amicus curiae in a PIL seeking expeditious disposal of criminal cases against MPs and MLAs.
Another 700 cases are pending investigation while 360 have remained at that stage for more than three years without a chargesheet being filed.
The figures form part of Hansaria’s 22nd Amicus report. It notes that the 4,192 figure is based on information received from High Courts and their websites; the Allahabad High Court did not submit a report and its figure of 1,171 cases is from its website as of February 2024. The High Court websites, in total, show 4,442 pending cases.
The report states that Chief Ministers of 14 of 28 states have criminal cases against them pending trials. Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy faces the highest number of cases at 89, followed by West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari (29), Karnataka CM D K Shivakumar, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu (both 19) and Kerala CM V D Satheesan (18).
Of the 4,192 cases, 754 have been pending for 5 to 10 years, 562 for 3 to 5 years, and 1,095 for less than 3 years, it states. Among the states/High Courts with the highest reported pendency are Uttar Pradesh (1,171), Kerala (543), Bihar (373), Maharashtra (364) and Odisha (330). The cut-off dates for these figures vary. The report says the number of cases pending trial has fluctuated but remained above 4,000 since 2018 — rising from 4,075 in December 2018 to 5,140 in November 2022 before settling at 4,192 in July 2026.
In 2017, the Supreme Court ordered the setting up of 12 special courts in 10 states, UTs for speedy trials in criminal cases involving legislators. In December 2018, it directed that one designated Sessions Court and one designated Magisterial Court be identified in every district to try cases on priority.
In November 2023, the SC directed the Chief Justices of all HCs to register suo motu cases to monitor the early disposal of such cases and empowered special benches to issue directions for expeditious trials.
The matter was referred to a three-judge Bench in February 2025 after the previous amicus report highlighted the absence of effective monitoring by most HCs. It has been listed for hearing before the three-judge Bench on August 18.
Hansaria said that despite top court’s directions, the pendency had remained at roughly the same level and attributed the delay to designated courts being burdened with regular judicial work, repeated adjournments, non-appearance of accused persons, delays in securing witnesses and inadequate monitoring by High Courts.
He has also sought that trials be completed within one year of framing of charges, monthly monitoring by HCs of cases pending for more than 3 years and “micro-monitoring” of individual delayed cases.
