New Delhi, Aug. 11 -- The Securities Appellate Tribunal's (SAT) case backlog has hit a six-year high even as the flow of new appeals has slowed, pointing to a system struggling to clear its accumulated workload.

Cases pending before SAT rose to 1,066 in fiscal year 2026 (FY26), an 11% increase from a year earlier and 122.5% higher than the 479 cases pending in FY20, according to annual reports of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Fresh appeals fell to 429 in FY26 from 533 in FY25. A total of 630 appeals were added in FY20.

The divergence indicates that the tribunal's current workload is being driven less by new filings than by cases carried forward from previous years. At the same time, disposals have slowed. Appeals di...