The Union government is planning to introduce evening courts on a pilot basis in Delhi, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh to speed up the disposal of pending cases, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal said in an interview with The New Indian Express, published on November 10.

Source: Bar and Bench

Under the proposed arrangement, courts that currently function during regular daytime hours will extend their sittings by a few additional hours in the evening to hear pending matters, India Legal reported.

Source: India Legal

The initiative also envisages engaging retired judges to preside over the additional evening proceedings, and will be undertaken in collaboration with the respective High Courts, LawBeat reported.

Source: LawBeat

Pilot first, expansion later

The idea is to make greater use of existing court facilities beyond conventional working hours, creating additional opportunities to hear cases without necessarily building entirely new courts. The government has not announced a specific date for the pilot to begin.

Meghwal said the government will assess the outcome of the pilot before deciding whether to extend evening courts to other states and Union Territories. The push sits alongside other steps the Law Ministry has been promoting to cut pendency, including alternative dispute resolution, Lok Adalats and pre-litigation mediation.