Officers-In-Charge Handling Department Cases Casually: Rajasthan HC Suggests Improvement Measures, Warns Of Imposing Cost On Erring Officials

The Rajasthan High Court expressed its "pain" over “condemnable negligence and lethargic attitude” of Officers-in-Charge of various departments in not providing the original case file to their respective government counsels observing that it "hampers the process of providing justice to the litigants”. In doing so the high court issued important measures for speeding up cases noting that the same are treated with a lack of seriousness and urgency by the Officers in Charge for reasons best known to them. The court emphasized the improvement can be be through enhanced coordination between departments, continuous training and adoption of technology such as Artificial Intelligence. It thus issued notice to various officials in the state government to the effect that the Officers-in-Charge shall perform all the duties and work, assigned and specified to them from time to time so that unnecessarily delay is not caused. It also said that if sufficient assistance is not provided to the court by departments, cost would be imposed which would be recovered from the pocket of the "erring/defaulting officer, after following due process of law". Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand in his order noted that despite the Litigation Information Tracking and Evaluation System (LITES) portal launched 20 years ago, no significant measures have been taken to address the challenges faced by the Government Counsels in the Courts. “The entire system casting responsibility on the Officers entrusted with the work of overseeing cases can be improved by integrating better role definition, enhanced coordination between departments, continuous training and adoption of technology. Leveraging AI, data analytics and automated systems will definitely allow the Officers to handle cases efficiently, track progress and minimize delays in Courts. Additionally, incentivizing the Officers, who efficiently handle the cases, will surely promote a culture of accountability and speeding up the case management system.”The Court was hearing a 2016 case petition where case filed had not been handed over by the concerned Officer in Charge to the counsel appearing on behalf of the department. After expressing pain over the situation, the Court highlighted an order passed by the Court in Sardar Mal Yadav v. State Elementary Education and Ors. recently, in which the issue of OCs was dealt with. The Court opined that it appeared as if the OCs were unaware of the duties assigned to them and hence, were handling cases in a causal and negligent manner. “As a result of their casual approach, the matters have been deferred repeatedly from one day to the next. This Court has observed on several occasions that due to change in Government, departmental counsels are frequently replaced…It is utterly shocking and surprising that no list of pending department-wise cases is provided to the counsels representing the respective departments. As a result, the counsels are unable to determine how many cases are pending against their departments.”The Court highlighted all the efforts that have been put in place to improve the situation like the establishment of Justice Department in 2005 to monitor the litigation in which State was party; launching of LITES (Litigation Information Tracking and Evaluation System), a software designed to provide intensive monitoring cases to safeguards government interest; regular review meetings with OCs, etc.In this light, the Court gave the following measures to improve the situation:Implementation of structured and regular performance evaluation of officers handling cases, focusing on resolution timelines, quality of legal representation and responsiveness to court proceedings. Clear accountability mechanisms needed to make officer accountable for timely review of assigned cases, with penalties for unnecessary delays or negligence. Regular inter-departmental meetings between various government departments and the department handling the legal matters to ensure tracking of progress and allocation of necessary resources. Legal training of officers from different departments for a better understanding of the requirements of cases and to enhance their ability to assist counsels in case management. Officers and department counsels to be sent on periodic training to enable understanding of new technologies and for developing case management strategies. Regular workshops for the officers in specialized areas of law. Developing case management software that allows officers to track all cases in real-time, receive automatic updates and get alerts about deadlines. Using AI-powered case sorting for categorizing cases based on their urgency, type and complexity since AI can assist in recommending case priorities. Automated documentation and filing for quick document filing, updating and sharing information across various departments and legal bodies which shall reduce delays.Engaging private legal experts like law firms or expert counsel for specific type of cases...

Officers-In-Charge Handling Department Cases Casually: Rajasthan HC Suggests Improvement Measures, Warns Of Imposing Cost On Erring Officials

Nupur Agrawal

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