The Supreme Court on Thursday observed that merely seeking pendency figures every 6 months is insufficient to tackle the backlog of civil execution petitions, which currently stands at over 8 lakh cases across district courts nationwide (Periyammal (Dead) and Ors. vs V Rajamani and Anr.).
A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran took up the matter to review compliance reports submitted by various High Courts following its earlier directives on curbing execution delays.
The proceedings stem from a ruling passed on March 6, 2025, where the top court resolved a four-decade-old property dispute from 1986.
Holding that delay frustrates a decree-holder’s right to reap the fruits of a decree, the Court directed all High Courts to mandate that lower courts decide execution petitions within 6 months, failing which, presiding judicial officers would be held administratively answerable.
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing as Amicus Curiae, placed a compilation before the Bench, pointing out that High Courts attributed delays to interim stays, objection petitions, counsel non-appearance and frequent adjournments.
Highlighting grassroot bottlenecks, the Amicus submitted,
"Large number of problems happen because either the judgment debtor is not issued notice or properties of the same are not known. These are two major issues on the ground."
Expressing concern over the mounting figures, Justice Pardiwala remarked:
"We need your assistance for these pending execution petitions which are currently 8 lakh..."
The Bench explored administrative mechanisms, pointing to Rule 12 of the Commercial Courts Rules, which envisages specialised monitoring cells.
"We talked about some Commercial Court Rules. There is Rule 12 which talks about establishment of a cell. This is something which appealed to us...Why can't the High Courts establish these cells? These cells can monitor the entire process of execution in different courts," Justice Pardiwala said.
When informed that only one High Court had set up such a cell so far, the Bench asked,
"Why are other High Courts not considering it!?"
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati submitted that the Central government was contemplating bringing provisions into the parent Act alongside corresponding amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) to bypass concerns regarding delegated legislation.
Justice Pardiwala suggested introducing a statutory timeline.
"You can say in the Act itself that execution shall be in accordance with a schedule. You can introduce a schedule in the Act itself."
Stressing the need for real disposals, the Bench observed:
"We will call for a progress report from different High Courts as to what is the progress. How many execution petitions have been decided and disposed of. Just calling for these figures every 6 months is not enough. We need to do something more."
The Court asked the Amicus and the ASG to submit a 3–4 page note on today's hearing and posted the matter for hearing on October 7.
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