India’s Supreme Court prepares special Lok Adalat for pending cases
India’s Supreme Court will hold a three-day Special Lok Adalat on August 21, 22 and 23, 2026, for selected pending matters that may be resolved through consent-based settlement rather than a contested judgment.
The schedule was confirmed in a Supreme Court notice dated August 10. The event is the planned culmination of Samadhan Samaroh 2026, which the court says began on April 21 to advance participative justice and amicable dispute resolution. It is not a blanket reopening of every pending case, and inclusion in an identified category does not guarantee selection or settlement.
What is Samadhan Samaroh?
Samadhan Samaroh is the Supreme Court’s national dispute-resolution initiative. Its Special Lok Adalat is intended to help settle suitable cases pending before the court when the parties agree to a resolution.
The three-day event is scheduled to take place at the Supreme Court in New Delhi. The court’s official program says the initiative is designed around “consent-based resolution mechanisms,” meaning a contested matter cannot simply be decided through the settlement process without the parties’ agreement.
Which cases may be considered?
The Supreme Court has identified these categories and similar matters:
- Banking and civil-law disputes
- Compensation and motor-accident claims
- Consumer and real-estate regulation, or RERA, disputes
- Matters under the Negotiable Instruments Act
- Family, labor and industrial-law disputes
- Land-acquisition and property-tax matters
- Rent and eviction disputes
- Service-law matters and transfer petitions
- Direct- and indirect-tax disputes
The list describes cases that may be examined for settlement. It does not make every case in those categories automatically eligible. The court has said cases must be suitable for the process, and any settlement depends on consent.
How can litigants participate?
Litigants, advocates-on-record and other stakeholders who want a matter considered can provide complete case particulars to the Supreme Court’s One Stop Centre or use the prescribed online form identified by the court.
The One Stop Centre is located in Rooms 806 and 808 of the B Block of the Supreme Court’s additional building complex. The court lists dedicated contact numbers for the initiative, including 011-23112428 and 011-23112528. A person with a pending case should first consult the advocate-on-record handling the matter and verify the current instructions on the court’s official Samadhan Samaroh page.
Submitting information does not by itself mean that a case has been accepted for the Special Lok Adalat. Litigants should use the official court channels and should not rely on informal messages or assume that a pending matter has been included.
What may happen before the August event?
The Supreme Court’s separate notice to parties describes a possible pre-Lok Adalat conciliation stage for cases identified as suitable. Parties may be directed to participate through a state, high court, district or taluka legal-services authority.
The conciliation can take place physically or virtually, according to the notice. Its purpose is to give the parties an opportunity to explore an agreed resolution before the Special Lok Adalat. If no agreement is reached, the matter remains subject to the ordinary adjudicative process.
Why the initiative matters
The program comes as the Supreme Court’s reported docket remains large. A Department of Justice reply to the Rajya Sabha listed 92,755 cases pending before the Supreme Court as of March 9, 2026, compared with 70,239 in 2021.
Those figures are a dated government comparison, not a live count for August 2026. They also do not show that every pending case is suitable for settlement or that the Samadhan Samaroh caused the increase.
A settlement forum can resolve individual disputes more quickly when all sides agree, but it cannot by itself eliminate the court’s broader pendency problem. Structural issues such as case volume, judicial capacity and case management remain separate questions.
What happens next?
The Special Lok Adalat is scheduled for August 21, 22 and 23, 2026. People with Supreme Court cases should check whether their matter fits an identified category, speak with their advocate-on-record and submit complete details only through the official channels specified by the court.
The practical takeaway is limited but important: Samadhan Samaroh may provide a settlement route for suitable disputes, but it is not a guaranteed fast track and does not replace ordinary adjudication in cases that remain contested.
Sources
- Supreme Court of India: Samadhan Samaroh 2026
- Supreme Court notice dated August 10, 2026
- India Department of Justice: Rajya Sabha pendency reply
- Bar & Bench report on the Special Lok Adalat
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