President Droupadi Murmu calls for efforts to change ‘culture of adjournments’ in courts

President Droupadi Murmu on Sunday called for efforts to change the ‘culture of adjournments’ in the courts.

“Pendency of court cases is a big challenge for all of us,” the President said while addressing the valedictory event of the two-day National Conference of the District Judiciary in the capital.

“All possible efforts need to be made to change the culture of adjournments in courts,” PTI quoted her as saying.

President Murmu added that all the judges of the country have the responsibility to protect justice.

Pointing to the citizens’ stress levels that go up in courtroom settings, a phenomenon she called “Black Coat Syndrome”, the President suggested that it should be studied.

Murmu also expressed happiness over the increase in the number of women judicial officers.

Union law minister Arjun Meghwal, who was also present at the event, said,”It is the collective responsibility of all of us present in this ceremony at Bharat Mandapam today to come out with a pledge to break the common perception of ‘Tariq pe Tariq’ culture regarding the justice system.”

CJI calls for action plan to reduce case pendency
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who also addressed the conference, spoke on the action plan for reducing case pendency through case management.

“The Committee on Reducing Arrears of Cases has skilfully laid out an action plan for reducing case pendency through case management. The three stages of the action plan include first the preparatory stage of forming district-level case management committees to identify target cases, undated cases and reconstruction of records,” ANI quoted the CJI as saying.

“The ongoing second stage aims to resolve cases that have been pending before the courts for 10 to 20 years, 20 to 30 years and more than 30 years. Third, from January to June 2025, the judiciary shall execute the third phase of clearing the backlogs of cases pending for over a decade in courts,” he added.