NEW DELHI: Up to 55% of court time is spent by judges each day on tasks such as reissuing summons, fixing dates for future hearings and case administration decisions rather than judicial functions such as hearings, a nationwide survey conducted by Bengaluru-based Daksh has found.
The data analysed by Daksh also showed that an average 87 cases got listed each day before a subordinate court judge and about half were adjourned. "This is far too many, given that a judge sits in an open court for only about five-and-a-half hours. This means that on an average, judges have a little more than three-and-a-half minutes on each case," it said.
This long list of cases before each judge created pressure to hear each case and affected the fundamental objective of a fair hearing, the report said. The study found that in 40% of the 91,797 hearings analysed, other than the date of next hearing, there was absolutely no additional information available on proceedings.
"Of the hearings for which information was available, 47% were adjournments. The reasons for adjournment were varied and attributable to all actors in the system, including the judge, parties to the case, advocates, witnesses and court administrators," the report said.
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