Nearly 4,000 contempt cases pending against government since 2022: H.K. Patil

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil on Thursday informed the Legislative Council that 3,957 contempt of court cases were pending against the State government since 2022 for failing to implement various court orders on time.

He presented the Karnataka Conduct of Government Litigation (Amendment) Bill, 2025, in the Council on Thursday, and it was cleared. The Bill that was earlier passed in the Assembly.

Year-wise pending contempt cases against Karnataka govt.

Pointing out that failure to implement court orders on time has caused embarrassment to the government, the Minister said that there have even been instances where the cars of tahsildars were seized due to contempt proceedings.

“These are not minor cases that we can afford to neglect. We must respect court orders and ensure compliance,” he said.

Asserting that the government must appoint compliance officers to address the huge backlog of contempt cases, the Minister announced that a committee will be formed under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to work towards resolving these cases. 

“Through this Bill, we are amending the Karnataka Conduct of Government Litigation Act, 2023, to introduce a new Chapter IV-A, focusing on compliance with court orders. A key aspect of this new chapter is the mandate for departments to appoint a designated officer to oversee the enforcement and compliance with court orders. This officer will be responsible for ensuring that departments prepare regular reports on the status of compliance with court orders,” the Minister said. 

Giving a year-wise break-up of the pending contempt cases, Mr. Patil said that while 946 cases were pending in 2022, 1,098 were pending in 2023. As many as 1,254 accumulated in 2024 and 659 in 2025. “Of the 659 pending this year so far, 179 have been dropped,” he added.