High Court Directs Delhi Government To Submit Status On Infrastructure, Pendency Of Cases In Family Courts

The Delhi High Court has asked the Delhi government to submit a status report with respect to functioning of Family Courts in the city.

The single judge bench comprising Justice Yashwant Varma has sought relevant data which may indicate the total number of Family Judges who are presently posted and presiding over Family Courts in Delhi, the total number of matters pending on the board of each of those Courts as well as the status of infrastructure attached to those Courts.

The development comes in a petition raising the issue of inordinate delay in disposal of family and matrimonial disputes pending before various family courts in the city. The petitioner in the case was one of the litigants before the Family Court, Delhi who raised the grievance of long adjournments given by the courts even at the initial pre-trial stage. 

"Even at the preliminary stage of appearance of parties and for completion of pleadings, long adjournments of about nine months are being given primarily on account of huge pendency," he submitted.

The petitioner stated that by giving long adjournments, the Family Courts were losing sight of the fact that adjourned family matters were just causing multiple litigations and further deterioration of marital discord.

He added that his case was not an isolated case and a number of litigants were already suffering on account of delay and huge number of cases pertaining to matrimonial, guardianship, maintenance and property disputes which were pending for a very long time.

The petition relied upon the Law Commission's 59th report of 1974 to further enunciate upon the issue. The said Report recommended the setting-up of special courts where rules of procedure would be simpler. As per the petition, the Law Commission also stated that such courts may adopt an approach of radical steps distinguished from the existing civil courts and that such courts could make reasonable efforts for settlement before the commencement of the trial. 

Reliance was also placed upon rules framed by the Bombay High Court, providing exhaustive rules for every step- starting from the institution of proceedings to service of summons as well as hearing in Courts.

Rule 11 of the Family Court (Court) Rules, 1988, as per the petitioner, provided for returnable dates of summons in such matters to be three to five weeks respectively.

Accordingly, it was submitted that similar rules were required to be framed in Delhi so as to effectively adjudicate upon family disputes.

As per the petitioner, any amount of delay in adjudication upon the obligations of the parties involved in family litigation adds on further marital discord and also affects the society at large and that no amount of money could compensate delay in adjudication of issues involving personal and family matters.

"Right to access to justice of parties include right to adjudication of family disputes in a timely manner. It is therefore advisable that certain rules be framed providing for maximum period for which a matter pending in family court can be adjourned. Further seeking of routine adjournments should also be deprecated by having appropriate rules in this regard."

Accordingly, the court was requested to issue directions to expedite hearings of the cases before the Family Courts at Delhi. It was also prayed to the Court to issue appropriate direction to the Respondents for the amendment of the Delhi Family Court Rules, 1996 and frame effective rules for proper functioning of Family Courts and speedy and time bound disposal of Family disputes.

The matter will be heard next on October 6, 2022.

CASE TITLE: ISHAN TANEJA v. STATE OF NCT OF DELHI & ORS. 

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