Bombay High Court directs registry to send proposal to Maharashtra government to regularise court managers

The Bombay High Court recently directed its administration to make a proposal to the Maharashtra government to regularise the services of court managers already appointed in the State. [Panchksharayya Mathapati v. UOI & Ors.].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.The Supreme Court had, in August 2018, directed that services of persons already working as court managers in any district must be regularised by the State government as the assistance of these managers was needed for the proper administrative set-up in a court..A division bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain opined that, prima facie, the course of action to be adopted would be to make a proposal for the regularisation of the services of the court managers who were already working."In our opinion, what is of immediate urgency is to make a proposal to the State Government for regularization of the services of the Court Managers who were already appointed. To enable the authorities to take appropriate steps in this regard, we adjourn the proceedings for four weeks," the Court said. .The directions came on a plea filed by 17 petitioners who were working as senior court managers in different districts and family courts in the State.Their main grievance was regarding the regularisation of their services and the fixing of a minimum pay scale for the post held by them.The petitioners claimed they had been appointed court managers for a period of 5 years as per the Recruitment Rules of 2011. The same was extended from time to time till date.Another grievance raised by the petitioners was regarding the minimum pay provided to them.They submitted that their pay should have been increased as determined by the VIth and VIIth Pay Commissions. However, the same was not reflected in their pay yet, the Court was told..The Court was also informed by the High Court administration that it was taking all steps to ensure that the regularisation takes place.The administration added that the process of fixing the staffing pattern of the High Court and District Court staff and the framing of Recruitment Rules for the appointment of court managers were still pending consideration by the State Rules Committee..Advocates Satish Talekar, Pradnya Talekar, Madhavi Ayyapan, Neha Kachi, and Kalyani Mangave from Talekar & Associates appeared for the court managers.Senior Advocate Dr Milind Sathe with advocate Rahul Nerlekar appeared for the High Court administration..[Read order]