‘File pe file’: At Delhi’s digital courts, why massive pendency of cases gives staff sleepless nights

“Hum Sunday wale papa ban ke reh gaye hain (We have become the father who only gets to see their children on Sundays),” the man laments as his eyes glance at the clock. It is way past 5 pm, beyond their official duty hours.

This is an Ahlmad room, assigned to a digital courtroom to deal with cases under the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act (or cheque bounce cases). Its staff, including ahlmads and readers, are tasked with ensuring no file goes missing and that the court functions effectively.

The Indian Express visits three such Ahlmad rooms at court complexes where staff complain of a major issue — a massive pendency in cases. At these three courts, the average pendency is 7,000. Every day, between 80 to 120 cases are heard.

The issue isn’t just limited to these courts. At the 12 court complexes across the Capital, with a total of 671 judges, there are close to 15 lakh pending cases (2.16 lakh civil and 12.73 lakh criminal cases); each court has a pendency of 2,200 cases on average.

NI Act courts, however, have a pendency as high as 13,000 cases — six times the average. As per the Act, cheque bounce cases ought to be disposed of within six months. On any given day, NI Act courts are hearing a minimum of 50 cases and a maximum of 100 cases.

Take Patiala House Court, for instance, where there are five physical NI Act courtrooms and three such digital courtrooms.

“Cases keep pouring in. We dispose of 50 and 100 new files come. Late dates will obviously have to be given,” says a court staff working in an NI Act Court in Patiala House Court.

Across multiple courtrooms, no Ahlmad room, usually attached close or next to the courtroom, is open — not because the doors are locked, but because there are almirahs with files on the other side blocking the entrance.

Those rare courtrooms fortunate enough to have a relatively low pendency have enough almirahs to store the files. Other, not-so-fortunate ones see files stacked on top of each other outside in the open. “Every time an administrative official does rounds and spots these files, we are scolded. Now you tell us… is there any way out?” asks a record keeper.

‘Cramped workspaces’

Most record keepers work 12 hours, from 8 am till 8 pm. “You won’t find a single person here who isn’t mentally or physically troubled…,” says another ahlmad, rapidly flipping pages of a case file. “There isn’t enough space to sit and operate… sometimes, we spend the whole day standing and scanning through papers. When a paper goes missing, there will be an inquiry against us.”

Owing to the paucity of space, people take turns entering or exiting these Ahlmad rooms; there is barely enough space to place two chairs and a table. “For us with protruding bellies, it is sometimes not even possible to enter… I even got stuck once,” an ahlmad says wryly.

Various court staff tell The Indian Express they wrote letters to the Principal District and Sessions Judge requesting an almirah to store files. Some even physically appeared before the judge to make the request. Even when the judge granted their request, the caretaking branch told them no almirahs were available.

“No one even listens to our plea, because we’re not judges or senior advocates… due to the burden of work, around 350 court staff have taken voluntary retirement over the years,” a reader claims.

The Indian Express also visits a physical court made solely to deal with NI Act cases. A separate Ahlmad room doesn’t exist here. There is just a makeshift arrangement inside the courtroom dividing it into two — one where the judge sits and lawyers argue and the other where the court staff sits sifting through files. Here too, the pendency is over 7,000 cases.

Pointing to dozens of stacks of files, a court staff says, “I’ve joined here recently. Just look at the files here. Is there any space for us to sit? We work for 11-12 hours a day… Sometimes a stubborn lawyer will ask me for a file and won’t budge if I tell him to come tomorrow. Looking for one file instantly is a headache. He just waits there for half an hour — sometimes an hour as I search.”

Advocate Pravesh Dabas, who has over 200 cheque bounce cases, explains that the case load isn’t the only reason for pendency. “There are several other factors causing delay as well such as delay in servicing summons, issues of territorial jurisdiction, and so on… In one case that I’m fighting, the opposite party has not appeared for six years. It is an uphill battle to serve a summons to an accused person who is sitting in another state. Non-service of summons delays many such trials,” he added.

The work overload, however, is not limited to ahlmads. Recently, various Principal District and Sessions judges issued circulars highlighting the shortage of stenographers.

“This is to bring to the notice of all that currently, Rouse Avenue District Court, New Delhi, is experiencing an acute shortage of Senior PAs/PAs (Stenographers). The requisitions for substitute Stenographers being received on almost daily basis from different courts, however, are more than the number of stenographers available in the Office Pool,” read one such circular issued in December 2024 by Principal District and Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna of Rouse Avenue Court.

A similar circular was issued on November 28 last year by the office of the Principal District and Sessions Judge (Headquarters) Sanjay Garg.