Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and senior Supreme Court judges met with high court judges to discuss judicial vacancies and appointing ad-hoc judges. They also explored the idea of evening courts to reduce case backlog. The meeting focused on enhancing judicial efficiency and streamlining case management. These efforts aim to improve the overall functioning of the judiciary.
New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, accompanied by two senior Supreme Court judges, convened a meeting with high court judges to address critical issues such as filling judicial vacancies, appointing ad-hoc judges in high courts, and establishing evening courts.
This meeting took place just a day after a national conference aimed at tackling challenges faced by the state judiciary.
According to a press release from the Supreme Court administration,
“The conference was followed by a meeting of the chief justices of the high court and senior-most judges of the high court with the Chief Justice of India, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice B R Gavai, and Justice Surya Kant, judges of the Supreme Court of India.”
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The release highlighted that discussions focused on the backlog of over 18 lakh criminal cases and the recent allowance for high courts to appoint ad-hoc judges, limited to 10 percent of the court’s total sanctioned strength.
This decision relaxed certain conditions previously imposed by the top court regarding ad-hoc judges.
The release further noted that the conference included participation from judges at various levels of the judiciary, where they discussed identifying bottlenecks in case disposal and strategies to reduce the backlog of cases.
It stated,
“The idea behind this conference was to engage in a meaningful dialogue with different stakeholders and functionaries in the state judiciary, especially the district courts, to first understand the challenges being faced by them and thereafter, chalk out a plan to address the same,”
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The conference featured four technical sessions covering various topics affecting the state judiciary’s performance. Discussions included narrowing the gap between case institution and disposal, identifying case types that overwhelm judicial dockets, and exploring uniform case categorization across different courts.
Additionally, the sessions addressed leveraging technology to optimize judicial processes, timely recruitment of judicial officers, and enhancing accountability within the judiciary.