THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a situation where around one and a half lakh cases are pending, the government has decided to appoint temporary staff to family courts to expedite the processing of cases. Home Secretary Biswanath Sinha has issued an order allowing the appointment of retired Judiciary Department employees to the positions of Clerk, Typist, Amin, Duffadar and Attendant on a contractual and daily wage basis. On March 26, 2021, 'Kerala Kaumudi' published an editorial titled 'Expediting Family Courts', pointing out that the excessive number of cases is undermining the efficacy of family courts. Retired judges are being appointed on a contractual basis in family courts for 2 years to dispose of pending cases. However, this is the first time that non-judicial officers have been appointed on an ad hoc basis.

21 posts each including Judge, Principal Counsel and Registrar were allocated in 7 newly established Family Courts at Kunnamkulam, Neyyattinkara, Adoor, Punalur, Paravur, Aluva and North Paravur. In addition to this, the High Court Registrar has recommended to the government to allocate 9 more positions namely 2 Senior Clerks, 2 Lower Division Typists, an Amin, an Attendant, a Process Server, a Duffadar and an Office Attendant. There are 35 Family Courts operating in various districts. The High Court had issued guidelines to reform the current system, wherein all matters related to the case are directly handled by the judge and to appoint a Chief Administrative Officer to manage the 'case flow'.

Kerala is the state with the highest number of cases related to matrimonial disputes, ranking first in the country. The Sensitization Committee chaired by High Court Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar had convened a meeting of family court judges and heard their concerns. Some judges have to consider up to 200 cases a day with some cases being more than 5 years old.