Strategies for Effective Case Management

Civil litigation in India is hampered by outdated court practices, unchecked frivolous litigations, and frequent adjournments, making the system unsuited for the 21st Century. The judicial system requires a significant overhaul to modernise and streamline processes. The Civil Rules of Practice (“CRP”) promulgated by each High Court combined with the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (“CPC”), govern civil litigation practice in district courts of India. While amendments to CPC, a centralised legislation will take considerable time and effort, the state level CRP can and should be modernised on a priority basis. In most states these rules are outdated and obstructive to modern technology integration.

This consultation series therefore aims to modernise civil litigation in India’s District Judiciary through the formulation of a Model Civil Rules of Practice. To achieve this, each paper in the series comprehensively looks into a specific stage in the lifecycle of a civil suit, questions the current processes and reimagines them with technology and simplified legal rules at its core.

Improving Judicial Case Management

‘Case management’ refers to the management of time and events in a lawsuit as it proceeds through the judicial system from initiation to resolution. Despite various attempts made to operationalise efficiency through the adoption of Case Flow Management Rules in many states, the Indian judicial system lacks adequate mechanisms to enable the courts to set targets and timelines, and curate case management strategies for an efficient and transparent progression of cases.

A more holistic, data-driven approach is the need of the hour for equipping courts with the tools needed to make truly effective interventions and ensure efficient resolution of cases. Therefore, this paper delves into two foundational processes of judicial administration which are crucial to ensuring effective case management: listing and differential treatment for cases.

About the Authors

Priyamvadha Shivaji (Senior Resident Fellow)

Priyamvadha is a Senior Resident Fellow with the Justice, Access and Lowering Delays in India (JALDI) team at Vidhi. Her areas of interest include judicial reforms, constitutional law, and women's rights. At JALDI, her work primarily focuses on ensuring user-friendly, universally accessible, and efficient justice systems at all levels of the Indian judiciary. She graduated with a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad in 2020 and obtained the BCL from the University of Oxford in 2021. She has previously provided research assistance on independent projects. She enjoys reading, writing speculative fiction and poetry, quizzing, and learning new languages.