Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra (PTI photo)

NEW DELHI: In a first, the Supreme Court and high courts are trying to devise a mechanism to continuously assess the quality of judicial work in trial courts, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said on Saturday.

Nearly 17,000 judicial officers across India will watch with keen interest what follows the announcement that their judicial work will be assessed on a continuous basis, which was earlier done only when they were due for promotion or being considered for appointment as high court judges.

CJI Misra said: "Separate standards are being worked out to assess the quality of judicial work. I am sure that the same will further enhance working at the level of subordinate judiciary."

At the end of the two-day national conference of HC CJs and SC judges on 'initiative to reduce pendency and delays in judicial system', the CJI said the judiciary has decided to simultaneously tackle very old pending cases without compromising on the goal to achieve elimination of arrears of five-year-old cases. "This is one of the very successful schemes to handle pendency and delays," he said.

"It also brings with itself inherent checks and balances so that our judicial officers can execute the scheme for reduction of delay and pendency in a time-bound manner and be accountable for their work. This will not only help us in addressing the singular issue of delay and pendency but will enable us to set standards for judicial discipline as well as timely disposal of allocated cases," he said.

While praising the SC ecommittee's role in computerisation of trial courts across the country, the CJI said the HC CJs and SC judges seriously debated exploring the possibility of utilising court managers, who could help bunching of cases involving similar questions of law and help the judiciary in their early disposal.

The CJI had a word of advice for Lok Adalats and court-initiated settlements between litigants. He said when the litigants appear amenable to a settlement, the presiding officer of Lok Adalat or court must not impose its view while mediating between the parties. "Be enthusiastic but never be obsessed. Perseverance and enthusiasm are to be distinguished from obsession with an idea," he said.

Speaking at the conference on Friday, Justice Kurian Joseph had suggested that the retirement age of all judicial officers and judges of the HCs and SC should be made 70 years. At present, judicial officers retire at the age of 58 years, HC judges at 62 years and SC judges at 65 years. Justice Joseph clarified that he does not want to work beyond the present retirement age of 65 years stipulated for a Supreme Court judge. He also said he was not in favour of taking post-retirement assignments from the government. Justice Joseph is set to retire on November 29.

Though the meet extensively discussed the ways and means to tackle pendency and eliminate delay in justice dispensation, the CJI speech did not give insight into the exact shape of things that would be pressed into service to free the wheels of justice jammed for years by the burden of nearly three crore pending cases.

