Family court to get 22 new judges, and a Mazgaon branch
The Bandra family court began work in 1989 with 400 cases. The number of cases filed last year was in excess of 16,000.
Mumbai’s only family court – groaning under the weight of a mountain of divorce cases, custody battles, and maintenance disputes – is finally in for a breather.
The state government has identified a plot of land, not too far from the family court’s current BKC location, to build a new court complex in which the family court has been allotted 24 court rooms. The state has also decided to allot five rooms to family court at the under-construction Mazgaon court complex.
Family Court’s Principal Judge I J Nanda said the family court judges are currently handling nearly double the number of cases they should ideally deal with in a year. “At present, the judges are tremendously overloaded. Each judge should be hearing 500 to 1000 cases in a year, but we tend to hear 2000 cases annually.”
The 11-storied court complex is coming up behind Gurunanak Hospital in Bandra-Kurla Complex and it will be ready in two years’ time. The work on the 17-storied Mazgaon court complex is already on and it is also likely to be ready by 2018.
Nanda said that number of cases being registered in family courts in Mumbai have doubled in the past ten years. Statistics provided by the court’s registry reveal that 8,250 divorce petitions have been registered this year alone. Nanda said that with the beefed up strength, each judge will get more time to counsel couples, which is the most important function of any family court.
Dr Laxmi Rao, who recently retired as principal judge of the family court and now practices as mediator in divorce cases, said the situation in family court is really bad at this stage. “When one applies for a divorce, it takes nearly three months to get the first date. And if one misses one date, then it’s a wait of three more months.”
While happy that the state government has decided to provide family courts extra space, Dr Rao said the step would be wasted if it is not backed with appointment of personnel. Rao said currently it takes three to five years to grant a divorce and people who pursue the case in higher courts end up wasting 10 to 15 years.
Celebrated family court lawyer Mrunalini Deshmukh said she handled one case that went on for 11 years. “It included custody of a child who was a minor, but the by the time the case got over he had become a major, thereby frustrating the entire fight,” she said.
Deshmukh said the family courts were started in 1989 with just 400 cases, of which quite a few were transferred from the City Civil Court. The number of cases filed last year was in excess of 16,000 – 40 times more than the year of the court’s inception. “It is humanly not possible for the judges to hear 50-60 cases in a day as the cases they handle deal with human emotions,” she said.
Deshmukh said that even today there are contested cases which have been pending since 2008. “Just imagine the plight of a wife seeking maintenance from her husband/exhusband having to wait for years to get the money.”
Petitioners too have welcomed the move to beef up family courts. “I have been fighting a case to get visitation rights to my daughter for the past eight years. Appointment of more judges will certainly help litigants,’’ said an IT professional who did not wish to be identified.
Women’s rights lawyer Veena Gowda said that people should stop getting shocked at the rising number of matrimonial cases, as, according to her, the proportionate number of matrimonial cases remain more or less the same. “The women used to endure the pain and live with it, but now they have got access to courts,” Gowda said.
“The problem is, the laws are not clear. Matrimonial cases are mostly about maintenance and division of property. In the US, the moment one files a matrimonial case, a disclosure of assets has to be given. If laws in our country make this aspect clear, this by itself can help reduce the pendency,” she added.
Mumbai’s only family court – groaning under the weight of a mountain of divorce cases, custody battles, and maintenance disputes – is finally in for a breather.
The state government has identified a plot of land, not too far from the family court’s current BKC location, to build a new court complex in which the family court has been allotted 24 court rooms. The state has also decided to allot five rooms to family court at the under-construction Mazgaon court complex.
This will take the total number of family court judges to 29 from its current strength of seven, significantly reducing the existing judges’ workload, cutting down judicial delays, and improving the quality of counselling.
Family Court’s Principal Judge I J Nanda said the family court judges are currently handling nearly double the number of cases they should ideally deal with in a year. “At present, the judges are tremendously overloaded. Each judge should be hearing 500 to 1000 cases in a year, but we tend to hear 2000 cases annually.”
The 11-storied court complex is coming up behind Gurunanak Hospital in Bandra-Kurla Complex and it will be ready in two years’ time. The work on the 17-storied Mazgaon court complex is already on and it is also likely to be ready by 2018.
Nanda said that number of cases being registered in family courts in Mumbai have doubled in the past ten years. Statistics provided by the court’s registry reveal that 8,250 divorce petitions have been registered this year alone. Nanda said that with the beefed up strength, each judge will get more time to counsel couples, which is the most important function of any family court.
Dr Laxmi Rao, who recently retired as principal judge of the family court and now practices as mediator in divorce cases, said the situation in family court is really bad at this stage. “When one applies for a divorce, it takes nearly three months to get the first date. And if one misses one date, then it’s a wait of three more months.”
While happy that the state government has decided to provide family courts extra space, Dr Rao said the step would be wasted if it is not backed with appointment of personnel. Rao said currently it takes three to five years to grant a divorce and people who pursue the case in higher courts end up wasting 10 to 15 years.
Celebrated family court lawyer Mrunalini Deshmukh said she handled one case that went on for 11 years. “It included custody of a child who was a minor, but the by the time the case got over he had become a major, thereby frustrating the entire fight,” she said.
Deshmukh said the family courts were started in 1989 with just 400 cases, of which quite a few were transferred from the City Civil Court. The number of cases filed last year was in excess of 16,000 – 40 times more than the year of the court’s inception. “It is humanly not possible for the judges to hear 50-60 cases in a day as the cases they handle deal with human emotions,” she said.
Deshmukh said that even today there are contested cases which have been pending since 2008. “Just imagine the plight of a wife seeking maintenance from her husband/exhusband having to wait for years to get the money.”
Petitioners too have welcomed the move to beef up family courts. “I have been fighting a case to get visitation rights to my daughter for the past eight years. Appointment of more judges will certainly help litigants,’’ said an IT professional who did not wish to be identified.
Women’s rights lawyer Veena Gowda said that people should stop getting shocked at the rising number of matrimonial cases, as, according to her, the proportionate number of matrimonial cases remain more or less the same. “The women used to endure the pain and live with it, but now they have got access to courts,” Gowda said.
“The problem is, the laws are not clear. Matrimonial cases are mostly about maintenance and division of property. In the US, the moment one files a matrimonial case, a disclosure of assets has to be given. If laws in our country make this aspect clear, this by itself can help reduce the pendency,” she added.
