Nagpur HC judges conduct surprise inspection of 86 Vidarbha tehsil courts in 48 hours

To assess the ground-level condition of the courts where ordinary people in Vidarbha go seeking justice, the Nagpur bench of the High Court carried out an unusual exercise. Led by administrative judge Anil Kilor, judges personally inspected courts in 86 tehsils across 10 districts of Vidarbha within just 48 hours.

During the exercise, everything from court buildings to judges' offices, staff facilities, living arrangements and security was personally examined on the spot. The large-scale exercise, carried out on September 12 and 13, is being described as the first initiative of its kind in the history of the Nagpur bench. Notably, instead of relying only on government reports or paper records, judges themselves went down to the tehsil level.

The aim of the exercise was to understand the real problems facing the judicial system at the tehsil level. During the inspection, judges spoke to court officials, representatives of lawyers' associations, local administration and engineers of the public works department. According to Bhushan Kshirsagar, administrative manager of the Nagpur bench, the purpose of the exercise was to gauge the true condition of tehsil courts not merely from paper reports but by seeing it firsthand.

Apart from Nagpur, 10 judges of the Nagpur bench hold charge as guardian judges for the remaining 10 districts of Vidarbha. As part of this exercise, all these judges visited different tehsils in their respective districts to review the courts. Administrative judge Anil Kilor himself visited selected tehsil courts in places such as Lakhani, Wadsa and Hingna.

During the inspection, the current condition of court buildings, judges' offices, facilities available to staff, and living arrangements for judicial officers and staff were examined. The security of court premises was also included in the inspection. All these findings were fully documented, and it is expected that this will form the basis for future planning of facilities and infrastructure needed for the courts.

The exercise was carried out alongside the National Lok Adalat held on September 12, which, besides the inspection, also helped with the disposal of pending cases and provided guidance on the functioning of local courts. Technical and administrative problems that came up during the Lok Adalat were addressed on the spot, and concerned judicial officers were given the necessary guidance.

According to the High Court's legal services sub-committee, a total of 67 pending cases under the Nagpur bench were disposed of at the National Lok Adalat, with settlements totalling 83.5 crore rupees reached through compromise. Thus, the 48-hour exercise brought out the ground reality of basic facilities and security at Vidarbha's tehsil courts on one hand, while also speeding up the disposal of pending cases through the Lok Adalat on the other.