The Delhi High Court on Friday issued a set of directions regarding advance updation of leave taken by judicial officers on the website of the district court concerned.

The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, through a notification issued by the Registrar General of the High Court, has directed all Delhi District Court Judges to send prior intimation of their intention to take leave, at least a day in advance, to the office of their concerned Principal District and Sessions Judge; which shall immediately be updated on the Delhi District Courts website.

It is further directed that in case of any hardship or unforeseen exigency, when any leave is applied at last moment, the intimation shall be promptly sent by the the concerned Judicial Officer using electronic means, so that the same is received at the office of Principal District and Sessions Judge before 10:00 am, to enable the information to be uploaded on the website forthwith.

The aforementioned directions dated November 12, 2021, are issued pursuant to a filing of a PIL before the Delhi High Court, by Delhi-based lawyer Amish Aggarwala seeking directions for prior intimation of intention to take leave by Delhi judicial  officers as is done by the judges of the Delhi High Court.   

The Division Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice C.Hari Shankar had earlier said the issue raised in the petition will be considered and necessary directions in this regard would be passed on the administrative side.

Claiming that the  “Judges on Leave” section on the website of the Delhi District Courts is generally updated post 11:00 am displaying names of the judicial officers who are on leave on that particular day, the plea asserted that such delay in intimation of leave by a judicial officer is causing extreme hardship and inconvenience to the advocates, litigants and witnesses who travel long distances to attend court proceedings.

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“The above members of the public travel through arduous means of transportation, spend hours in commute, only to find, among other obstacles of the system, that the judicial officer is on leave,” reads the plea by petitioner Amish Aggarwala, who has been practising law in Delhi for the past 8 years.