Situation In Record Rooms Of District Courts Is Grim, Record Must Be Weeded Out Expeditiously: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has observed that the situation in the record rooms of the District Courts in the national capital is grim and the process of weeding out of the record needs to be carried out expeditiously.

A division bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said that the process of weeding out needs to be monitored on a regular basis.

The bench directed all the Principal District and Sessions Judges of the district courts to monitor the progress of weeding out of cases in their respective districts and take effective steps on the issue.

“The Principal District & Sessions Judges of all the District Courts are directed to file quarterly reports in this Court,” the court ordered.

The bench disposed of a public interest litigation concerning the lack of standardised procedure for the acknowledgment of pleadings, documents and applications filed in the district courts of Delhi.

Earlier this year, the court had ordered that e-filing of pleadings, documents and interim applications be made mandatory in the civil jurisdictions and criminal complaint cases before all the District Courts in Delhi.

The counsel appearing for Delhi High Court administration submitted that the grievance raised in the PIL regarding centralized filing of interim applications and their registration stood addressed, as the centralized filing system has been implemented in all the District Courts.

The court was further informed that the committees to monitor weeding out have been constituted in each District Court and around 52,000 files have already been weeded out.

“However, this Court cannot lose sight of the fact that the situation in record rooms of the District Courts is grim and the process of weeding out of the record needs to be carried out expeditiously and monitored on regular basis,” the court said.

The matter is now listed on September 02 for compliance.

In October last year, the court directed all the District Judges in Delhi to ensure that after disposal of a case, its records are immediately transmitted to the record room.

In August last year, the bench had directed all the district courts in Delhi to adopt a “standardized online filing system” for pleadings, documents, and miscellaneous applications and issued a slew of directions to be followed till the time appropriate Rules are in place.

Counsel for Petitioner: Petitioner in person with Ms. Vaishnavi, Advocate

Counsel for Respondents: Mrs. Avnish Ahlawat, Standing ounsel (GNCTD), Services and DSJ with Ms. Tania Ahlawat, Mr. Nitesh Kumar Singh, Ms. Laavanya Kaushik, Ms. Aliza Alam and Mr. Mohnish Sehrawat, Advocate; Ms. Shubham Mahajan, Advocate for R- 12 (RGDHC)

Case Title: KARAN S THUKRAL v. THE DISTRICT & SESSIONS JUDGE & ORS

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 486

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