New Delhi: Artificial Intelligence (AI) could potentially resolve more than 60 per cent of India’s pending litigation if routine small-ticket cases are shifted to automated systems, Supreme Court judge Justice Manmohan said on Saturday.
Speaking at the India Law AI and Tech Summit 2025 in Delhi, organised by Oak Bridge, Justice Manmohan said that technology should relieve judges of clerical burdens and allow courts to focus on complex legal questions. He noted that a large portion of India’s case load involves minor, repetitive disputes that do not require detailed judicial reasoning, Bar & Bench reports. “Small ticket offenses, traffic challan, check-bouncing cases. They could be decided by AI because these are matters of routine and can be easily dealt with,” he said.
If such matters are moved to AI-assisted platforms, he added, “more than 60 per cent of our litigation would get resolved, and the remaining infrastructure could focus on the core 40 per cent of the litigation.” He also said AI could help cluster thousands of similar cases, such as land acquisition disputes, allowing courts to dispose of entire groups of matters through a single ruling.
Justice Manmohan revealed that the Supreme Court has started piloting an AI-driven tool called SU-PACE, designed to read case files, extract issues and flag relevant precedents for judges. Describing it as a “digital research assistant”, he said the tool “prepares a summary of the readings, the issues, and calls out the law. It will not give a judgment, but it highlights what is relevant for the judge to consider.”
However, he cautioned that AI’s risks, including hallucinated case laws, algorithmic bias and privacy concerns, must be addressed before large-scale use. While predicting a hybrid judicial model where technology handles routine tasks, he stressed, “The ultimate character of justice is not the algorithm, but the integrity, independence and intellect of the human judge.”
Other speakers also voiced concerns. Dr Lalit Bhasin, senior lawyer and President of the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF), warned against excessive reliance on technology. Sharing an interview experience with young lawyers, he said, “All drafts were identical… What does this indicate? It indicates that we have virtually become slaves to the technology, AI. There is very minimal application of mind, and that is a very dangerous course of action so far as this profession is concerned.”
He pointed out that despite technological improvements, pendency continues to rise. “But what about the disposal of the cases? In 2023-24, there were 5 crore cases pending. Due to this facilitation process, you see the number has gone much beyond 5 crores now.”
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Bhasin added that delays persist because “We have too many laws. We have outdated laws. We have overlapping laws. We have ill-drafted laws. That is good for the legal profession but bad for the country, bad for the economy.”
Warning about the limits of technology, he concluded, “Use it as a tool, but don’t become a slave to it. Yes, reliance on technology is alright up to a certain extent, but it can never be a substitute for the human brain.
