Court Management

0
262

logo

Court Management

(Author: Sanjay Salkute)

The greatest problem of district courts is that of huge backlog of cases leading to undue
delay in deciding cases. Shifting the blame on judicial system only will not cure such problem.
Now recently the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India has launched a National Court Management
Program.
New Methods and New Roles are necessary in the Justice Delivery System which was
pleased to addressed by Hon’ble Shri. Justice Mohit S.Shah, Chief Justice of the Bombay High
Court at the inauguration of the conference of the Judicial officer on “Enhancing Quality of
Adjudication” at Judicial Academy Uttan, Thane.
At District & Sessions Court, Thane , formulated a mission to develop “ Best
Practices Guide” for improving Judicial Quality, Enhancing court management and reduce
pendency.
The Hon’ble Shri. K.K. Sonawane, Principal District Judge, Thane who is also the
Patron-In-Chief of this mission pleased to establish to develop Best Practices Guide at Thane
Court with a series of administrative stages to facilitate continuous monitoring , mentoring and ,
if necessary to to guide to ensure cases are disposed at the earliest opportunity at Civil Judge
Junior Division and J.M.F.C. Courts.
This pilot project is for the one of the object from the mission to develop Best
Practices Guide , to decrease old pendency and Increase rate of disposal in Civil Judge Junior
Division and J.M.F.C. Courts Bhiwandi District Thane. The period of Pilot project was from
December 2012 to February 2013. It is an Executive Mentoring program.
There are Eight Courts of Civil Judge Jr. Dn. & J.M.F.C at Bhiwandi Thane.
Physical verification of cases by qualitative and quantitative manner is like a health
check of the the court. Unless physically fit , the surgery can not be carried out. So, unless cases
are physically verified by qualitative and quantitative way , the result for new method can not be
Calculated /evaluated. At four courts , physical verification by quantitative method was carried
out , therefore those courts are selected and taken as Pilot courts. Other Four courts where
balance sheet and physical verification was not carried out , those are considered as Nonpiloting
courts. Some Pilot courts are concentrating over criminal cases though civil cases are
vested to them. Mentoring sessions were held for all courts. This pilot project shows effect over
piloting and non piloting area.
In this pilot project, the disposal from previous three months from September 2012 to
November 2012 was compared with the disposal during the pilot project period . The aspects
are researched , for pilot courts , increasing percentage rate of disposal per day and percentage
rate of disposal of old pending cases by dissecting balance sheet. For Non-piloting courts were
monitored and effect of increase in average rate of disposal of cases per day and average
decrease in pendency found. Thirdly overall effect of this pilot project over disposing cases
under ADR system.
To the end of this pilot project, examine the outcome of the all courts , resistance found
to pilot project and suggested need of effective management in the existing environment of
judicial system.
This pilot project may study by any person therefore some secondary data is presented at
relevant stage.
Findings :-Main Factors:-
A) Decreasing the pendency of cases in all courts.
B) a) Pilot courts:-
(I) Increasing % rate of disposal per day.
(II) Decreasing % backlog of old pending cases.
b) Non-pilot Courts :-
(i) Average Increase the rate of disposal of cases per day.
(ii) Average Decrease the pendency of cases .
c) For ADR system:- Increase in disposal of cases through
Mediation and Maha Lok-Adalat.
Decreasing the pendency of cases in Civil Cases by Pilot Courts.
§ 3rd Joint Civil Judge Jr. Dn.and JMFC Decreased Pendency of 99 cases
§ Disposal for 3rd Joint Civil Judge J.D. &J.M.F.C. In civil cases Increased per day by 1.636
§ 5th Joint Civil Judge Jr.Dn. and JMFC Decreased Pendency of 12 cases
§ Disposal for 5th Joint Civil Judge Jr. Dn. &J.M.F.C. In civil cases Increased per day by
0.428
Decreasing the pendency of cases in Criminal cases by Pilot courts
§ 4th Joint Civil Judge Jr. Dn. and JMFC Decreased Pendency of 145 Cases
§ Disposal for 4th Jt. Civil Judge Jr. Dn. & JMFC in criminal cases Is increased per day by
1.991
§ 5th Joint Civil Judge Jr. Dn. and JMFC Decreased Pendency of 156 Cases
§ Disposal for 5th Jt. Civil Judge Jr. Dn & JMFC in criminal cases Is increased per day by
5.414
§ Juvenile Court Decreased pendency of 102 Cases
§ Disposal by Juvenile court is increased per day by 7.202
Pendency decreased by Mediation by Pilot Court
§ Mediation cases disposal by 3rd Joint CJJD & JMFC is increased 07 cases
§ Mediation cases disposal by 4th Joint CJJD & JMFC is increased 21 cases
§ Mediation cases disposal by 5th Joint CJJD & JMFC is increased 10 cases
Decreasing criminal cases pendency by Non-pilot courts
§ Jt. CJJD & JMFC disposal rate increased 1.08 & 10 years old pendency 0.333 (BJ), 9.667
(O.W.)
§ 6th Jt. CJJD & JMFC disposal rate increased 2.294 & 10 years old pendency 1.333 (BJ),
otherwise 6.667 (O.W.)
Pendency decrease by mediation by non-pilot court
§ Jt. CJJD & JMFC increased 12 cases.
§ 6th Jt. CJJD & JMFC increased 13 cases.
• Conclusion : There is heavy pendency of cases in all courts. Most of the cases are old cases.
Each of the pilot courts had a distinctly different experience with the pilot project. For this
reason, each court was examined separately in order to consider the extenuating factors that
varied from court to court. There are two civil courts . One of the civil court which is pilot court
has given excellent response. The pilot court for criminal cases, where civil cases are vested , has
shown satisfactory progress .This pilot project resulted in significant improvement in nearly all
areas of case load management. In addition, all the courts showed more favorable results for
disposal of cases through ADR System. Experience during the three months of the pilot project
has shown that, except resisting courts, the goal of decreasing backlog in the courts is being
achieved. This being Pilot Project, the possibility of better results, using other methods may be
possible. By effective management, the goal of entire mission is possible for which long term
strategy has to be continued. The Policy & Action Plan for National Court Management Systems
(NCMS) will be more beneficial for getting dramatically higher results.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

* Copy This Password *

* Type Or Paste Password Here *