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Synopsis

On Saturday, April 22, 2023, Bombay High Court Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala expressed concern over the fear of the people not approaching courts due to the high pendency of cases in the court.

The judge said that he is worried about docket exclusion wherein people stop approaching courts due to the amount of time it takes to decide cases.

He said that while there is often talk about a large number of pending cases or docket explosion, he is not worried about that because the judges are competent to handle them, instead, he is worried about docket exclusion.

"Docket explosion and rise in pending cases. Our judges are competent to deal with it and I am worried about ‘docket exclusion’. People should not feel that due to such pendency, people will not be heard, and their matter will not reach. Because of such pendency of cases, citizens should not stop coming to court for seeking justice, my advice is that,” the judge said.

The Acting Chief Justice spoke about the importance of Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the justice system at the inauguration function of the new City Civil and Sessions Court and Metropolitan Magistrate Court Building in Mazgaon, Mumbai.

The new building will include 11 Metropolitan Courts and 3 courts from Ballard Pier Court.

He requested lawyers to take up ADR as a solution to this problem.

Alternative dispute resolution is a process in which parties come together to find a solution to a dispute without going to court. This could include mediation, negotiation, or arbitration.

Justice Gangapurwala also highlighted the importance of infrastructure for access to justice. The new building is equipped with modern equipment, including e-filing facilities, which expand the scope of e-filing. The old building was evacuated in 2013 and subsequently demolished, and operations of the Mazgaon Court were moved to Sewri Court premises until the new building was ready.

The judge urged lawyers and judges to work together for the dispensation of justice and to avoid adjourning cases unnecessarily. He suggested that parties be encouraged to resort to ADR to resolve their disputes.

Justices KR Shriram, MS Karnik, Kamal Khata, Sharmila Deshmukh, and Neela Gokhale of the Bombay High Court also attended the event. The judge concluded his address by requesting that the first matter to be heard in the new building on April 24 not be adjourned and be worked out instead.