New Delhi, Aug. 26 -- Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly 78 per cent of all cases pending before Fast Track Courts (FTCs) in the country, with more than 13.74 lakh cases awaiting disposal across 373 functional courts, according to data obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The figures, shared by the Department of Justice in a reply dated August 10 to a query filed by Noida-based social activist Amit Gupta, show that 17.54 lakh cases were pending before FTCs across India as of June 30, 2026. A total of 884 such courts were functional in 21 states and Union Territories at the time.

The Department said FTCs are established by states and UTs in consultation with their respective high courts to ensure speedy trials in specified categories of cases. It also said that no central assistance is being provided to states for setting up these courts.

Maharashtra had the second-highest pendency, with 1,35,340 cases across 117 FTCs, followed by West Bengal with 93,245 cases and Tamil Nadu with 89,703. Assam had 17,145 pending cases, while Delhi had 7,385 cases across 26 functional FTCs.

Sikkim recorded the lowest pendency among states with functional FTCs, with 18 cases across two courts. It was followed by Manipur, with 131 cases across six courts, and Punjab, with 161 cases across seven courts.

The RTI response also shows that 15 of the 36 states and UTs covered in the data had no functional FTCs. These include Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland. Among the UTs, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Ladakh and Lakshadweep had no functional FTCs. The backlog has fluctuated over the past five years. There were 11.73 lakh pending cases across 898 courts in 2021, rising to 14.74 lakh in 2022 despite the number of courts falling to 848.

Pendency reached 15.27 lakh in 2023, when around 15.21 lakh cases were disposed of. It fell to 14.57 lakh in 2024 before rising to 14.70 lakh in 2025, when around 13.3 lakh cases were disposed of. In the first six months of 2026, more than 8.66 lakh cases were disposed of, but the overall pendency rose to 17.54 lakh by June 30.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.