Officials at the apex court said the process to amend the regulations and hiring temporary staff was in the final stage. At present, as many as 1,000 posts are lying vacant in courts across the country. This will be the first time for the courts to hire such a large number of temporary staff. [break]
"A sizable number of positions have been lying vacant in courts since the last two years. This has seriously affected the smooth functioning of courts," said Hemanta Rawal, co- spokesperson at the Supreme Court. The apex court has already consulted the Ministry of Law and Justice in this regard. But the ministry has suggested the apex court to consult the Ministry of General Administration.
"We have given a conditional consent to amend the regulations," said a senior government official at the Law Ministry requesting anonymity. "If temporary staffs are hired without a mandatory consent from the Public Service Commission, that will violate the existing Civil Service Act," the official said.
But the court officials said that they want to appoint the staffs are early as possible, saying that a delayed recruitment would seriously hamper the judicial function of courts.
Court officials claimed that lack of required staff in courts had disheartened many litigants. Many cases have been gathering dust for the lack of staff. "Court´s activities are mostly affected by the absence of notice server," Rawal said, adding, "If court´s notice and orders are not served timely, cases remain pending in courts."
Some 300 notice servers retired under the recent VRS system while 200 posts for notice servers have remained vacant since the last two years. Besides, some 100 high ranking posts are also lying vacant in the judiciary. To add to this figure is the 200 vacant posts of junior staffs.
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