Bombay High Court asks State to decide on proposal to regularise services of court managers

The Bombay High Court recently directed the Maharashtra government to decide within two weeks the request for regularisation of services of court managers in different districts within the State [Panchksharayya Mathapati v. UOI & Ors.]..A division bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain underscored that the State has an obligation to decide the same in line with the Supreme Court's directions in the case of All India Judges Association Vs. Union of India..The Court was hearing a petition filed by seventeen senior court managers (petitioners) who were working in different district and family courts in the State. Court managers are persons appointed in every judicial district to assist the judiciary in their administrative functions. They hold a degree in Master of Business Administration.In August 2018, the Supreme Court had directed that the services of persons already working as court managers must be regularised by the State government as the assistance of these managers was needed for the proper administrative set-up in a court..On November 29, the High Court noted that a proposal forwarded by the Court's administrative wing to regularise the services of court managers was pending before the State government since May 4, 2019. The Court proceeded to grant the State two weeks to decide on this proposal and adjourned the hearing in the matter till December 13.."We have no alternative but to adjourn the present proceedings for a period of two weeks from today, however, with a direction to the State Government to take a decision on the proposal as sent by the High Court dated 4 May 2019 as also the subsequent reminder dated 3 October 2023, in the light of our order dated 20 September 2023," the Court's order stated. .The Court added that the State has to ensure that it complies with the orders of the Supreme Court while making the decision."It would not be permissible for the State Government, to not take a decision on the regularization proposal on any conditions which are extraneous to the orders passed by the Supreme Court, and the orders passed by the Supreme Court are required to be implemented in letter and spirit," the Court said..The petitioners before the High Court claimed they were appointed court managers for five years as per the Recruitment Rules of 2011. The same was extended from time to time till date.Their grievance was that their services were still not regularised. Therefore, they approached the High Court for relief and sought the regularisation of their services and for a minimum pay scale to be fixed for their post. .On September 20, the High Court directed its administration to submit another proposal to the State government to regularise the services of court managers already appointed in the State.The Registrar General of the High Court then informed that the State government has sought a clarification on the earlier proposal, which has been pending since 2019..In the latest hearing, the Court granted the State two weeks to decide on the 2019 proposal. The bench also clarified that any rules framed by the General Rules Committee of the Court would not come in the way of the State government deciding on the regularisation proposal pending before it. .Advocates Satish B Talekar and Madhavi Ayyappan appeared for the court managers.Senior advocate Dr Milind Sathe and advocate Rahul Nerlekar appeared for the High Court administration..[Read order]