The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to promptly decide on proposals submitted by the High Court registry regarding staff requirements, since the staff shortage at the court was severely affecting its functioning..A Bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Shyam Chandak issued the directive while dealing with a suo motu case initiated by the High Court on the staff shortage issue. "We don't want to see it delayed... We will see (to) it that it's worked out expeditiously," the Bench said. .The Court also emphasized the urgency of the issue by giving examples of how the staff shortage was affecting daily judicial work."Some of us are also not getting the scanned petitions... Let's say there are 50 matters. Out of it, only 10 matters come before us that are properly scanned. Technical staff says scanning is not possible… It is not functioning. To be candid with you, I don't check online petitions. But my brother here … looks it up… He immediately sees it… It does not open… because the registry has not accepted the filing yet," Justice Gadkari pointed out..The Court added that merely appointing staff was insufficient to tackle the crisis - they needed to be technically qualified to handle modern judicial requirements.The Bench proceeded to direct the State to account not only for present staffing shortages but also for future requirements."We have a future requirement. When the new High Court building is constructed … We have to consider this… Litigation is changing, especially commercial litigation," the Court said..Invariably due to insufficient staff, the functioning of our Courts gets hampered.Bombay High Court.The initiation of the suo motu case followed a December 2024 hearing in a contempt case, when the Court took serious note that the inadequate number of court staff was disrupting judicial work."It is observed by us that, invariably due to insufficient staff, the functioning of our Courts gets hampered. Illustratively, many times the files are not located or traced (as for want of racks and storage facilities—they are necessarily kept on the floor, moreover, there is no space on the floor too, and it is difficult to segregate matters)," the Court had noted at the time. The order also detailed how delays in annexing, binding, and paginating documents, as well as inadequate storage and digital infrastructure, were affecting board preparation and case proceedings. It pointed out that while courts had adopted digital filing, the lack of scanning equipment and technical staff had left many cases unprocessed in the e-filing system. "Now the courts claim to have gone digital, but not only are there fewer scanning and printing machines but also a shortage of manpower to do the work, and therefore all the cases are not uploaded on the e-filing system of the Court to make our Court paperless. The already overburdened staff is required to do additional work, which elongates their work hours on a daily basis," the Court had noted in its December 2024 order. .During today's hearing of the matter, advocate PM Palshikar, along with advocate Aditya Udeshi, representing the High Court Registry, informed the Bench that a proposal detailing the staffing requirement had been sent to the State government in December 2024. Additionally, on Thursday, another proposal was submitted, projecting staffing needs for the next 15 years. Additional Government Pleader Abhay Patki assured the Court that the government would consider the proposals and not create any obstacles.The Court has suggested that AGP Abhay Patki coordinate a meeting with the Principal Secretary of Law and Judiciary to resolve the issue at the earliest. "Why don’t you coordinate a meeting with the Principal Secretary, Law and Judiciary department?" the Court asked. .Patki responded that the highest officials of the High Court registry could hold discussions with the government to sort out the matter as soon as possible. He further submitted that the proposals would be considered as soon as possible and that the State authorities will not create any obstructions. .[Read December 2024 Order]
