PIL pile-up: 42-year-old case lingers as Supreme Court backlog swells to over 3,500

India's Supreme Court faces a crisis with over 3,500 public interest litigations pending. Many cases have been stuck for years, some for decades, even outliving original petitioners. Environmental and land issues dominate these delayed cases. The court's capacity is strained by a constant influx of new petitions, exacerbating the judicial backlog and hindering access to justice.