Prior intimation of leave mandatory by district court judges: Delhi HC
Delhi High Court's Chief Justice directs all district court judges to intimate in advance about their intention to take leave
Direction came on a Writ Petition
New Delhi, Nov. 12 (Delhi Crown): In a significant development expected to be hailed by public at large,Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Dhirubhai Naranbhai Patel on Friday (Nov 12) directed district court judges to intimate their concerned District and Session Judge of their intention to take leave at least one day in advance.
The notification came pursuant to a PIL Writ Petition (Civil) 10651/2019 titled “Amish Aggrawala Advocate V. Registrar General of the Delhi High Court”, filed by a Delhi based Advocate, seeking directions for “prior intimation of leave by judicial officers intending to take leave, as is done by the judges of the High Court.
“The direction is a welcome step towards better management of court systems in Delhi,” said petitioner Amish Aggarwala, who has been practising law in Delhi for the past 8 years.
The CJ also said that the same should be updated on the Delhi district courts’ website immediately.
It was further directed that in case of any hardship or unforeseen exigency, when any leave is applied at the last moment, intimation by/through concerned judicial officer be sent promptly, using electronic means, so that the same is received at the office of Principal District and Sessions Judge before 10 a.m., enabling the uploading of the same forthwith on the website for intimation of all concerned.
In the Writ Petition it was asserted that absence of leave by a judicial officer is never informed in advance to the public. There is a “Judges on Leave” section on the website of the Delhi District Courts, but it updates judges on leave for a particular day only on the concerned day itself, that to only post 11:00 am.
“In the meantime, thousands of us scramble to get to court in time, giving countless hours in preparing our cases the day prior,” stated the Writ Petition.
