The Karnataka High Court has noted that courts should try and dispose of cases involving dissolution of marriage within a single year. This observation was made on July 26 by single judge bench consisting of Justice Krishna Dixit, while considering a petition relating to a dissolution case dating back to 2016. In this case, the petitioner had sought speedy disposal of his case currently pending in the Family Court, arguing that under Article 21 of the Constitution, he had a right to speedy justice. The bench observed, " This Court is broadly in agreement with the proposition that the matrimonial causes should be tried & disposed off on a war footing, at least as a concession to the shortness of human life. It was Thomas Carlyle, a British historian of great repute who had said: “Life is too short to be little”. .When a matrimonial case involves the prayer for the dissolution/nullity of marriage, courts should make all efforts to try & dispose off the same within an outer limit of one year, so that in the event of granting such a decree, the parties may restructure their lives. It hardly needs to be stated ‘life is lost in living’. Delay in disposal of such cases very badly affects the parties." The Family Court judge was thereby directed to dispose of the case within an outer limit of three days. The bench also ordered that, " The Registrar General of this court is instructed to circulate this judgment in all the concerned circles so that other similarly circumstanced litigants may not unnecessarily knock at the doors of this court seeking a direction for the expeditious disposal of their cases."
