Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court has termed the issue of missing case papers from the lower courts as shocking and called for rectification of the system.
In a recent order involving a case from Patan district in which the case papers went missing from the court premises and the records were found deleted from the system as well, Justice Sandeep Bhatt stated: “This court feels pain and shock while considering such matters where serious lapses like missing court papers from the court premises or matters getting deleted from the record, though the matters are pending and the same is having a serious effect on the administration of justice. Therefore, with a view to correct the flaws found in the system, this Court has to observe the above-mentioned incident with an intention to improve the functioning of all the Courts in the State in an appropriate manner and also to strengthen the process of administration of justice.”
After the case of missing court documents came to the fore, the court called for a report from the HC registry about similar instances in the past. The court was informed about the system evolved in the past few years to curb this problem, which included a regular reporting system at all levels.
Upon receiving a report from the registry, the HC was surprised to know that 15 case files went missing when an additional sessions judge was transferred from Surat in 2019. He returned the original file over a period of six months after an inquiry.
Justice Bhatt mentioned in his order that this incident was brought to the notice of the principal district judge by the Surat court’s registry who further drew attention of the unit judge, who is an HC judge. The unit judge filed a report to the then Acting Chief Justice in Sep 2019 with his endorsement.
Justice Bhatt further stated in the order: “This incident is prima facie shocking and required to be dealt with in an appropriate manner considering the gravity of such incident.” Referring the issue to the HC Chief Justice for consideration in an appropriate manner, Justice Bhatt stated, “In view of the foregoing reasons, the present matter be placed by the Registrar (Judicial) along with the Registrar General before the Hon’ble Chief Justice for consideration of the issue in an appropriate manner.”
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court has termed the issue of missing case papers from the lower courts as shocking and called for rectification of the system.
In a recent order involving a case from Patan district in which the case papers went missing from the court premises and the records were found deleted from the system as well, Justice Sandeep Bhatt stated: “This court feels pain and shock while considering such matters where serious lapses like missing court papers from the court premises or matters getting deleted from the record, though the matters are pending and the same is having a serious effect on the administration of justice. Therefore, with a view to correct the flaws found in the system, this Court has to observe the above-mentioned incident with an intention to improve the functioning of all the Courts in the State in an appropriate manner and also to strengthen the process of administration of justice.”
After the case of missing court documents came to the fore, the court called for a report from the HC registry about similar instances in the past. The court was informed about the system evolved in the past few years to curb this problem, which included a regular reporting system at all levels.
Upon receiving a report from the registry, the HC was surprised to know that 15 case files went missing when an additional sessions judge was transferred from Surat in 2019. He returned the original file over a period of six months after an inquiry.
Justice Bhatt mentioned in his order that this incident was brought to the notice of the principal district judge by the local court’s registry, which was then brought to the notice of the unit judge, who is an HC judge. The unit judge filed a report to the then Acting Chief Justice in Sep 2019 with his endorsement, and “accordingly, no further action was taken at that point of time and such serious issue was placed under the carpet.”
Justice Bhatt further stated, “This incident is prima facie shocking and required to be dealt with in an appropriate manner considering the gravity of such incident.” Referring the issue to the HC Chief Justice for consideration in an appropriate manner, Justice Bhatt stated, “In view of the foregoing reasons, the present matter be placed by the Registrar (Judicial) along with the Registrar General before the Hon’ble Chief Justice for consideration of the issue in an appropriate manner.”