The Bombay high court has sought information details regarding the pendency of cases in the family courts in the state while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking establishment of more such courts as prescribed in the Family Courts Act (FCA).
A division bench of justices Amjad Sayed and Abhay Ahuja has called for the state wide details within three weeks while hearing the PIL seeking enforcement of the provisions of FCA by constituting adequate numbers of family courts.
The HC was hearing a PIL filed by a businessman, who is studying law, stating that he “came across several people who were involved in divorce proceedings and realised that divorce proceedings are protracted and stressful for all parties involved”.
FCA was enacted in 1984 with a view to achieve speedy settlement of disputes relating to marriage and family affairs and other related disputes. The backlog of cases was then transferred to family court from the other courts.
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The plea states that section 3 of the FCA stipulates that the state government, in consultation with the HC, shall establish a family court for every area in a state of a city or town whose population exceeds one million.
Meenaz Kakalia, advocate for the petitioner, said that as per this, the state government is obligated to set up a family court per million population. As of date, there is one family court complex in Mumbai, which has 7 judges. As per 2011 census of Mumbai, there is a need for at least 6 more judges, said Kakalia. She added, now the requirement may be much higher as per the current population.
For other areas, the state government has discretion of setting up family courts as it deems fit.
“As revealed by RTI response received by the petitioner, in spite of the fact that Maharashtra has a population of 11.24 crore as per the 2011 census, the total number of family courts in Maharashtra is merely 19 while the total number of family courts required as per law is 39,” reads the plea.
Highlighting the failure on the part of the state government to set up adequate number of family courts, the plea states that more often than not “women suffer the consequences of protracted legal proceedings and delays before the family courts”.
The HC has kept the PIL for hearing after three weeks.
Need to set up Family Courts at –
Parbhani
Sangli
Alibaug, Raigad
Yavatmal
Buldhana
Bhandara
In Family Court, Bandra, Mumbai
Number of divorce petitions pending as on January 31, 2019 – 512
Petitions pending below one year – 243
Petitions pending between one to two years – 96
Petitions pending between two to three years – 111
Petitions pending above three years – 62
Total – 512
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