Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has written to the Chief Justices of all the High Courts to seek their views on developing a permanent cadre of administrators for court management and administration.

The move is aimed at allowing the judiciary to devote more time on judicial work and free them from administrative, managerial and financial work.

Judges burdened

The situation is particularly bad in lower judiciary where judges are burdened with substantial administrative work. As per the Indian Judiciary Annual Report 2016, pendency of cases across district courts is a staggering 2.81 crores and as many as 5,000 judges’ posts are vacant.

Administrative work only added to the workload of existing judges. That’s why in 2010, the 13th Finance Commission suggested the creation of the post of Court Managers in every district court and High Court.

A sum of Rs. 300 crore was allocated for the purpose and these managers were meant to assist the Registrars in High Courts and Judges in District Courts in administrative tasks.

But Mr. Prasad reportedly notes “only one-third of the sanctioned amount was released and one-seventh utilised.” “Recruitment on contract basis, low remuneration package, reluctance on the part of the judiciary to accept Court Managers to participate in the judicial process have been identified as some of the reasons for failure to attract suitable candidates,” the Law Minister’s letter reportedly pointed out.