Delhi HC mulls audit of ‘staff shortage’ at district courts

General secretary of District and Sessions Courts Employees’ Welfare Association said the chief justice directed the registrar general to immediately assess the extent of staff vacancies.

The Delhi High Court administration is considering deploying portfolio committees of judges to conduct a comprehensive audit of staff shortages across the Capital’s seven district courts, days after a 35-year-old court staffer died by suicide, allegedly citing overwhelming work pressure.

The registrar general was directed to deploy portfolio committees comprising three Delhi HC judges each within the next few weeks.

The move followed an hour-long meeting on January 9 – the day of the incident – between the District and Sessions Court Employees’ Welfare Association and Delhi High Court registrar general Arun Bhardwaj, held in the presence of chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, a senior court official told HT on condition of anonymity.

Portfolio committees are groups of judges tasked with supervising the functioning of district courts. One such committee oversees each of Delhi’s seven court complexes – Tis Hazari, Patiala House, Karkardooma, Rouse Avenue, Saket, Dwarka and Rohini.

Arun Yadav, general secretary of the District and Sessions Courts Employees’ Welfare Association, said the chief justice directed the registrar general to immediately initiate an audit of all district courts to assess the extent of staff vacancies. “The chief justice instructed that an audit be undertaken to identify the actual manpower requirement and that additional recruits be deployed based on the findings,” Yadav said.

He added that the registrar general was directed to deploy portfolio committees comprising three Delhi High Court judges each within the next few weeks. “These audit committees will also include a representative from our association to ensure staff concerns are adequately reflected,” Yadav said.

Yadav said the meeting also addressed other long-pending grievances of staff. These included non-uniform postings, issues related to the transfer policy, and delays in departmental examinations that have affected promotions. “It was assured that the audit committees would also examine these concerns. The chief justice directed that the issue of irregular departmental examinations, which has stalled promotions, be resolved,” he said.

The Delhi High Court official cited above said that while these assurances were not issued in writing, the proposals are under active consideration and follow-up action is awaited.

The developments come after a specially-abled court staffer working as an ahlmad died by suicide on January 9 after jumping from the Saket district court complex. A note recovered from the spot stated that he was under “extreme work pressure”. While the staffer did not hold any individual responsible for his death, he wrote that managing the responsibilities of an ahlmad had become exceedingly difficult given his physical disability.

The incident triggered protests within the Saket court complex, with lawyers and court staff staging a sit-in and displaying posters highlighting chronic understaffing and excessive workload in district courts.

Separately, on January 12, the employees’ association wrote to the chief justice flagging what it described as an acute shortage of manpower across district courts. “This situation is causing severe operational stress and adversely affecting both administrative efficiency and staff well-being,” the letter stated. It also pointed to the lack of strict functional demarcation of duties among different branches of the district courts, arguing that this had created administrative imbalance and further compounded manpower shortages.