Court management

Introduction

• The management of the court system in India is carried out by a number of different
practitioners, including judges, court staff, lawyers, and litigants.
• Judges are responsible for overseeing the administration of justice in the courts. They
are the primary decision-makers in cases and are responsible for interpreting the law
for rendering verdicts.
• Judges are appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of the Chief
Justice of India.
• They are appointed for a term of five years and can be re-appointed for an additional
term of five years.
• For any management system to succeed, and this equally applies to Court
management, it is essential to identify the stakeholders.
• There are only four players in any judicial system. They are (not necessarily in order
of importance):

· The judges

· The lawyers

· The litigants

· The Court staff and the Registry

• Each of these stakeholders has specific role to play for ensuring the success of case
management and Court administration.

Judges as managers

➢ A judge is the person in charge of a Court. Barring any unforeseen event, the litigation
before a judge has to be controlled by him.
➢ What is important in this regard is time management. It is for the judge to decide, for
example, how many cases should be scheduled for hearing on any given day; how
much time has to be granted for completing the procedural formalities such as
completion of pleadings; how many adjournments if any, should be granted and how
much time has to be allotted for the hearing of a case.
➢ Systematic and proper management of time in respect of each case will go a long way
in reducing the laws delays.
➢ A judge must also determine the general complexity of a case so that the progress of
a case can be effectively managed.
Role of lawyers and litigants

If time is precious for a judge, it is equally precious for a lawyer or a litigant. None of
these stakeholders would like to spend more time than is necessary on routine
administrative matters, some of which are not within their control.
Apart from certainty in the decision-making process and quick disposal of cases,
lawyers and litigants are concerned with two key areas of Court administration.
These are:

1. Availability of information.

2. Preparation of documents.

Good Court management practice requires that information pertaining to a case must
be readily available to a lawyer or litigant.
For example, it is essential for them to know whether service has been affected on all
concerned or whether any document filed by them suffers from some filing defect or
is placed under some objection raised by the Registry.
It does not help anybody’s cause if the lawyer or litigant is told at the last minute that
his case will, in all probability, be adjourned because of some technical snag, which
could have been rectified at the appropriate time if the information was available
earlier.
Litigants usually complain about the non-availability of documents. The most common
grievance relates to a certified copy of an order or the decree sheet not being ready.
A simple and routine task like this results in a colossal waste of time and effort for
lawyers and litigants.
With the use of computer systems and photocopying machines, it is possible to firstly,
make ready any Court order almost immediately and to certify it with the use of digital
signatures.
Secondly, if for some reason, a copy of an order or decree is not available, information
in that respect can be disseminated through the Internet or an Interactive Voice
Response (IVR) mechanism.

OBSERVATION

There is an old saying that, “actions speak louder than words” therefore observation can best
be done by understanding the role of Court Managers in implementing the Court
Management System in Indian Judiciary:-

1. The roles of Court Managers are diverse, but the core lies in improving the operation
of courts by freeing Judges from non-judicial duties and providing them with
competent managerial infrastructures.
 2. In consultation with the stakeholders of a court (including the Bar, ministerial staff,
prosecutors, police, process serving agencies and court users), Court Manager
prepares and update annually a 5-year court- wise Court Development Plan (CDP).
3. The Court Manager monitors the implementation of the CDP and report to superior
authorities on progress statistics.
4. The Court Manager ensure that statistics on all aspects of the functioning of the Court
are compiled and reported accurately and promptly in accordance with systems
established by the Hon’ble High Court.
5. The Court Manager to ensure that court staff remain engaged, motivated and
committed to the work.
6. Judges use their own criteria to monitor, evaluate, and motivate courtroom and other
staff. They had wide discretion in how they manage, and organize their courtroom and
sup-port staff.
7. The Court Manager to ensure that processes and procedures of the Court are fully
compliant with the policies and standards established by the Hon’ble High Court for
court management and that they safeguard quality, ensure efficiency and timeliness,
and minimise costs to litigants and to the State and this in turn will also enhance the
efficiency of the system.
8. The Court Manager to ensure that case management systems are fully compliant with
the policies and standards established by the Hon’ble High Court for case management
and that they address the legitimate needs of each individual litigant in terms of
quality, efficiency and timeliness, costs to litigants and to the state.
9. The Court Manager to ensure that the IT systems of the Court comply with standards
established by the Hon’ble High Court and are fully functional. Feed the proposed
national arrears grid to be set up to monitor the disposal of cases in all the Courts, as
and when it is set up.
10. The Court Manager to ensure that the court meets standards established by the
Hon’ble High Court on access to justice, legal aid and user friendliness.
11. The Court Manager to advise on effective document management, utilities
management, infrastructure management and financial systems management in the
Court.

MANAGEMENT OF COURTS AND CASES

During this period many ideas have been mooted to tackle the enormous backlog of pending
cases. Some of the important benchmarks reiterated on various occasions regarding Court
and case management are below mentioned: -

1. Case planning and grouping them in 3 or 4 categories for fast track, medium track and long
track treatment- in other words, setting time lines.

2. Bunching of cases of a similar kind for collective treatment.

4. Strict regulation of adjournments and imposition of exemplary costs for seeking it on flimsy
grounds.

5. Making written arguments the basis for mainstream advocacy thereby limiting time for oral
arguments.

6. Clear guidelines on exercise of judicial activism, admission of PILs, expression of personal

7. Creation of an expert unit or secretariat in every High Court for processing cases for timely
appointments, promotions and transfers based on objective criteria and methods.

8. Standard operating procedures on court and case management are the need of the hour,
they would in turn aid in deciding priorities and acting on them like focusing on district courts.
Gram Nyayalayas with flexible procedures work to reduce village disputes.

9. The possibility of issuing notices to parties before admitting second appeals or revision
petitions should be explored. This may help in limiting the filings to cases involving substantial
questions of law.

10. The Judicial Impact Assessment Report prepared at the instance of the Hon'ble Supreme
Court will ensure infrastructural support for every new legislation or amendment generating
additional demands on judicial time.