The Appellate Division and High Court Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court together disposed of 98,732 cases in the first eight months of 2026, reducing the number of pending cases by 13,755 during the period.

The Appellate Division disposed of 11,136 cases against 9,139 new cases filed between January 1 and August 31, bringing down its pending cases from 41,551 at the beginning of the year to 39,554 by August 31.

The High Court Division, meanwhile, disposed of 87,596 cases against 74,607 new cases filed during the same period, reducing its pending caseload from 659,256 to 646,276.

The combined number of pending cases in the two divisions declined from 700,807 at the beginning of 2026 to 685,830 by August 31.

The figures show that 13,755 more cases were disposed of than filed in the two divisions during the first eight months of the year, reflecting a significant acceleration in the disposal of cases and a gradual reduction in the backlog.

Nearly 2,000 cases reduced in Appellate Division

The Appellate Division disposed of 11,136 cases during the first eight months, which was 1,997 more than the 9,139 cases newly filed during the period.

As disposals exceeded new filings, the number of pending cases in the Appellate Division fell by 1,997, from 41,551 at the beginning of the year to 39,554 by August 31.

The disposal figure in the first eight months is also substantially higher than the annual figures recorded in the Appellate Division in each of the previous five years.

The division disposed of 6,859 cases in 2021, 5,406 in 2022, 5,349 in 2023, 5,312 in 2024 and 7,553 in 2025.

High Court pending cases decline by nearly 13,000

The High Court Division disposed of 87,596 cases during January-August, against 74,607 new cases filed during the same period.

As a result, its pending caseload declined by 12,980 cases in the first eight months, from 6,59,256 to 6,46,276.

The High Court Division's 87,596 disposals in the first eight months have already surpassed the number of cases it disposed of in any full year during 2021-2025.

It disposed of 23,654 cases in 2021, 87,474 in 2022, 74,278 in 2023, 38,297 in 2024 and 55,756 in 2025.

Special bench for speedy disposal of death references

Alongside regular benches dealing with death reference cases, a special division bench has been formed in the High Court Division to prioritise and expedite the disposal of death references arising from violence against women and children and the related appeals.

Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury formed the special bench in June this year.

Since its formation, the special bench has disposed of 22 death reference cases, said a press release from the Supreme Court on Sunday.