Courtroom crisis: Judgement writer absent

JAIPUR: A judge of the Rajasthan high court on Friday refused to pass orders because there was no ‘judgment writer' available in the court. Justice N K Jain, who was hearing urgent listed matters, told the advocates present in the court, "I can't help it. I want to hear your cases and pass orders but due to shortage of staff I am unable to do justice." The judge profusely apologised to the lawyers and said he was ready to put in black and white why he was not passing orders. "If you desire so, I can write down that the orders could not be passed because I don't have proper staff strength of judgment writers." The trouble started when another Justice Prem Shankar Asopa went on leave on Friday and the 108 miscellaneous matters listed for him were transferred to Justice Jain, who already had 69 cases of his own. Justice Jain made it clear to the registrar that he will not be in a position to hear the cases unless additional staff is given. Some of the senior advocates went to registrar Deepak Maheshwari to sort out the problem, but he said he was helpless.
10 May 2008, 0420 hrs IST , Abhinav Sharma , TNN
THE TIMES OF INDIA