Business graduates to manage courts

Gujarat has been stealing limelight for a variety of reasons. It held Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors summit and it turned out to be a resounding success. It managed to sign memoranda of understanding for projects expected to bring in an investment of whopping Rs 20 lakh crore. Soon, the Gujarat government will have MBA graduates working in courts. The initiative is aimed at bringing down the number of pending cases and suggest measures to speed up the justice delivery system.

Gujarat seems to have been inspired by the achievements of some of the corporate companies, which have been benefited in a big way by hiring the services of MBA graduates to improve the efficiency and achieve better result. The Gujarat Government is taking the lead to show the way for others to deal with the mounting number of pending cases in courts. It has hit upon an idea of appointing court managers with MBA degrees. Those with law degree and MBA will get preference during the recruitment.

The court managers are likely to be on a contract for five years and their job will be to help judges clear the backlog of cases and speed up the justice delivery system in the state. If the experiment is successful, court managers’ services may be regularised.

What will be the role of the manager in a court? The manager will identify criminal, civil and other types of cases, which have striking similarities, and keep the district judge updated on the latest rulings in identical cases delivered by different high courts and the Supreme Court. They are free to advise the courts on other measures to reduce the number of cases. 

The appointment of court managers is still in the preliminary stage.  The need for court managers was felt as 22.50 lakh cases were pending in various district, metropolitan and family courts in the state. Besides the appointments, the government will also need at least 800 new judges to reduce the backlog of cases by 50 per cent in the next one year. About a year ago, the Gujarat Government started the concept of evening courts, first in the country. As part of the initiative, courts sat for more time beyond their working hours. The measure proved to be a success. Now, the government wants to move forward with the appointment of managers.