MBAs as court managers in each district

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 5

Faced with a daunting task of clearing a backlog of over three crore cases across India, the Supreme Court has created a new and separate cadre of ‘court managers’ with an MBA degree to ensure efficient court administration in each district.

“Professionally qualified court managers, preferably with an MBA degree, must also be appointed to render assistance in court administration,” ordered a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, while issuing a series of directions to augment judicial infrastructure in courts.

“The post must be created in each judicial district for assisting District and Sessions Judges. Such court managers would enable the district judges to devote more time to their core work, that is, judicial functions. This, in turn, would enhance the efficiency of the district judicial system,” it said.

“These court managers would also help in identifying the weaknesses in the court management systems and recommending workable steps under the supervision of their respective judges for rectifying the same. The services of any person already working as a court manager should be regularised by the state government,” it said.

The ordered covered a whole range of issues – drinking water, washrooms, multi-level parking, signage in Braille for visually impaired citizens, disabled-friendly buildings, electronic case display systems for litigants, creche facility, adequate residential accommodation for judicial officers and court staff, CCTV cameras and dispensary.

The Bench directed that the order be sent to Chief Secretaries of each state to constitute a committee (which would include the Law Secretary) to formulate a plan to give effect to its directions.

It lamented that most of the states were allocating as low as 1 per cent of their total budget for the judiciary.