There are more than a lakh tax cases pending in courts and various tribunals, holding back Rs 64,244 crore in both direct and indirect taxes.

The major reasons for pendency of 1,31,780 tax cases are excessive burden on existing tribunals and courts, and shortage of human resources with tax departments, junior finance minister S S Palanimanickam told the Lok Sabha today.

He said that there were 68,382 direct tax related cases pending -- income tax appellate tribunals had 29,505 cases, High Courts had 34,467 cases and Supreme Court had 4,410 pending cases, blocking over Rs 18,900 crore as on September 30, 2009.

As regard indirect tax, there are about 63,400 cases pending in Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunals (46,930 cases), High Courts (14,077) and Supreme Court (2,391) blocking over Rs 45,300 crore as on December 31, 2009.