Recently, while pronouncing judgement on 43 years old case, the Supreme Court of India orally mentioned that the public may lose confidence in the legal process if such delays continue.

"Litigants may become disillusioned when the legal process moves at a snail's pace. This matter has been pending for over 43 years.’’

The Court further said that, 

We have expressed our anguish where some litigation pending for 50 years are also pending as per National Judicial Data Grid. Some of the oldest cases are in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, which are over 65 years old," Justice Kumar said.

The judge went on to issue a set of eleven directives to the Chief Justices of High Courts, aiming to ensure the monitoring of the progress of long-standing cases.

The Court declared, "We have issued eleven directives to the Chief Justices of the High Courts regarding the monitoring of longstanding cases, particularly those pending for over five years. We kindly request the Secretary General of this Court to disseminate this judgment to all the Registrars of the High Courts.''

While issuing this order, the Court made an appeal for litigants to avoid seeking adjournments and unnecessarily prolonging court proceedings whenever possible.

"Litigants will lose confidence when the delay continues. We have cited how a member of the Californian Bar had spoken on it and cited remedial measures for it. Litigants should be circumspect in seeking adjournments and should not take the goodness of the presiding officers as their weakness. We have noted down countrywide statistics and how efforts needed from the Bar and the Bench," he said.