Delhi High Court Seeks Report From Principal District Judges Over Delay In Updating Info About Judicial Officers' Leave On Website

The Delhi High Court today directed all the Principal District Judges in the national capital to file a report, indicating the reasons for delay in updating the information regarding leave of Judicial Officers on their respective websites.

The Division Bench of Acting Chef Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla sought the report to be filed within 2 weeks.

The report shall indicate, from 1st February onwards, the date and time when information regarding leave was received from the concerned Judge and the date and time when such information was updated on the District Court's website.

"Reasons for delay in updating should also be listed in respect of each leave," the Bench added.

The order was passed in a public interest litigation filed by Advocate Amish Aggarwala in 2019 seeking a direction that timely notice of the leaven taken by judges of the courts of Delhi Judicial Service may be intimated to the public.

"The above members of the public travel through arduous means of transportation, spend hours in commute, only to find, among other obstacles of the system, that the Ld. Judicial Officer is on leave. A few hours later, but certainly not before 11 a.m., if the Judges on Leave section is checked again, the name of the Ld. Judicial Officer then appears on the list," the plea stated.

Subsequently, a notification was issued by the Registrar General of the High Court on November 12, 2021, directing that intimation of leave shall be sent by all Judicial Officers to the office of Principal District & Sessions Judge, at least one day in advance, and the concerned Branch shall update the status thereof on Delhi District Courts website immediately.

It was further directed that in case of any hardship or unforeseen exigency when any leave is applied at last moment, intimation through the concerned Judicial Officer must be sent promptly, using electronic means, so that the same is received in the office of Principal District & Sessions Judge before 10:00 AM, enabling the uploading of the same forthwith on the website.

As per the Petitioner, the order was diligently followed for some time. However, with passage of time, the old situation had restored. The Petitioner had annexed along with his application, screenshots of the website from January 2022, to demonstrate the non-compliance.

The matter has now been listed on 28th April.

Case Title: AMISH AGGARWALA v. REGISTRAR GENERAL, DELHI HIGH COURT