Officers and staff members of the Madras High Court are elated over Chief Justice Indira Banerjee having recognised that court staff, unlike other organisations, do not have any fixed working hours and that most of them right from the cadre of Registrar to office assistant work even during night hours.
Madras High Court and Madurai Bench Officers and Staff Association secretary V. Venkatasubramanian said it was a matter of great pride for members to hear the Chief Justice publicly acknowledge the hard work put in by the court staff during her address at the annual day celebrations held recently. “Those of you in service with the High Court indeed have a lot of responsibilities. The work is hard, the work is not easy and throughout the year, unlike many other organisations where there are fixed timings, there are no fixed timings here. I see with my own eyes the manner in which the Registrars and many of you work.
“The Registrars are at my official residence very often till 12 o’ clock and beyond midnight getting files signed. Similarly, when there are judgments to be delivered, it is the personal assistants who sometimes have to give up their night’s sleep apart from working in the day time,” the Chief Justice said. Pointing out that judiciary was a very important pillar of democracy, she said that a whole lot of people work behind the scene in delivering justice.
Better facilities
Commending the association for having come up with the idea of felicitating court staff who had completed 25 years of service, the Chief Justice said that those who had been associated with the judiciary for long would be able to appreciate better the modern facilities that had been provided at present.
“Today, you get better facilities. Then, the quality of services provided by us should also be better.
“There are delays on our part when we are disposing of cases and getting a judgment ready. There are delays on the part of the registry when it comes to supplying certified copies. There are complaints regarding mistakes in order copies,” the Chief Justice said and impressed upon them the need to work efficiently and aid in the delivery of justice to the common man.
“It should be our (judges, officers and staff) joint endeavour to adopt a more service oriented approach to the people. We should remember that we exist for the litigants who come to this court,” she concluded.
