Delhi High Court urges timely resolution of matrimonial disputes

New Delhi (IANS). The Delhi High Court has observed that family courts should avoid giving long dates while directing the parties to a matrimonial dispute to approach the court counselor for a possible settlement between them.

A bench of Justice Navin Chawla, while posting a matter scheduled for hearing on October 18 to August 8, observed that the prolonged adjournment was unnecessary, especially considering the number of pending matrimonial cases.

“Even though there are about 4,000 matrimonial matters of various nature pending before the learned Family Court, there is no need for such a long adjournment,” the judge said. He said that the court would have to monitor the proceedings of the petition/counseling before the court counselor on a regular basis. Such monitoring cannot happen if the court adjourns the matter for such a long date.

This is a case of a husband seeking disposal of his divorce petition within a reasonable time limit. The family court had referred both the parties to the court counselor to explore the possibility of arriving at an amicable settlement and adjourned further proceedings till October 18. The husband submitted that there was no possibility of an amicable settlement, which made such a long adjournment unnecessary. The counsel for the wife did not object to the extension of the date of hearing.

Justice Chawla said that family courts should avoid long adjournments while referring parties to court counsellors. He urged the family court to avoid undue adjournment and give priority to speedy disposal of the matter.