Role of Court Managers in Indian Judiciary: Past, Present, and the Way Ahead

To ensure that judges channel their complete attention on adjudicating disputes, the post of Court Manager was created in 2010 to assist judges with the administrative tasks. It has been a decade since the post was introduced and till date, Court Managers have not been fully absorbed into the system in several states and face several issues. The paper brings to fore the challenges that Court Managers face and highlights the need to enhance their role in the judicial system. In doing so, the paper addresses two main questions – why do we need court managers? and what should be their roles? To gain an in-depth insight into their functioning, interviews with Court Managers were conducted from different states. Based on the interviews and a comparative examination of Court Managers functioning in different countries, the paper recommends steps to expand their roles and strengthen their position in the Indian judicial system.