Family courts hit by staff shortage

Though the lofty ideal in setting up the additional family courts was to enable speedy disposal of family disputes, lack of adequate staff to man these courts has put the clock back, when it comes to pendency and the time taken to settle these sensitive cases involving human lives and hapless children.

The first family court in Madras High Court had come into being in 1988. But since then, owing to the rapid increase in the number of divorce and maintenance cases filed every year and the up-tick in cases also adding up to the pendency resulting in numerous cases pending for over five years, the number of courts has steadily increased. But, what is the end result.

Amicus curiae R Y George Williams appointed to submit a status report on the family courts said, “As per the GO paving way for the creation of four new family courts as many as 82 staff must be appointed to the newly constituted courts.

On the day the four courts came into being, adequate staff remained with many being appointed from other City Civil courts. But the very next day, the appointed staff were sent back to the court from where they had been transferred on ‘deputation’ and ‘other duty’ resulting in the staff strength remaining way below the sanctioned strength.” Also, pointing out to the over 300 vacancies prevailing in the City Civil Courts, the amicus curiae, in a report submitted to the Madras High Court, also stated that many of the provisions made available in the Government Order like photo copying machine, English and Tamil type writers in each court and other contingencies like stationery articles, forms and registers have not been provided. For that matter, none of the courts has the prescribed typists resulting in printer steno and typists being exchanged and shared by all the family courts, the report added.

The lack of sufficient hands in the new courts has resulted in poor coordination too. Although the waiting time for petitioners has marginally decreased, with fewer cases being heard in the new courts, there has been little impact on pendency.

As on November 28, 2017, as many as 9092 fresh cases, including maintenance cases, have been filed while as many as 16,000 cases remain pending.