Mumbai: Highlighting that the acute shortage of staff was severely affecting court functioning, the Bombay High Court (HC) on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to promptly decide on proposals submitted by the HC registry regarding staff requirements.

A Bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Shyam Chandak issued the directive while hearing a suo motu (on its own) case initiated by the HC in December 2024 after observing that inadequate staffing was disrupting judicial work.

The Court highlighted the urgency of the matter, citing issues such as judges not receiving scanned petitions for listed cases. A report by the Prothonotary and Senior Master of the HC, submitted in December, revealed a deficit of 1,254 staff. The Court stressed that merely appointing staff was insufficient, as they needed to be technically skilled to handle modern judicial needs.

The Bench also directed the State to consider future staffing needs, especially with the upcoming construction of a new HC building. “Litigation is evolving, particularly commercial litigation,” the Court noted.

In its December 2024 order, the Court had highlighted the impact of the shortage, mentioning misplaced files due to lack of storage, delays in document processing, and inadequate digital infrastructure. It had also noted that despite the shift to digital filing, a lack of scanning equipment and technical staff was hampering the transition to a paperless system, overburdening existing employees.

“Now the courts claim to have gone digital, but not only are there fewer scanning and printing machines but also a shortage of manpower to do the work, and therefore all the cases are not uploaded on the e-filing system of the Court to make our Court paperless. The already overburdened staff is required to do additional work, which elongates their work hours on a daily basis," the Court had noted in its earlier order.

On Friday, the HC registry’s counsel informed the bench that proposals detailing staffing needs had been sent to the State in December 2024, with an updated 15-year projection submitted on February 20. State’s advocate Abhay Patki assured the court that the proposals would be considered without obstruction.

The Court suggested a meeting between Patki, the Principal Secretary of Law and Judiciary, and senior HC officials to resolve the issue swiftly.