The Delhi High Court recently said that if the family courts are referring parties to counseling, they should not give very adjournments while referring parties to counseling.
Justice Navin Chawla observed that the family court also has to look for the counseling proceedings that often take place before the counselors and such supervision cannot be successfully implemented if the concerned court adjourns the long date.
The Court observed in a case where a matrimonial case had been adjourned for around five months, “Even though the order records that there are approximately 4000 matrimonial cases of various nature pending before the learned Family Court, such a long adjournment is still not warranted.”
Justice Chawla was dealing with a plea filed by a husband challenging a family court order and seeking disposal of a divorce petition within a bounded time frame.
The High Court was told that on March 14, 2023, the family court referred the parties to the court counselor while adjourning the proceedings till October 18.
It also argued that there were no chances of an amicable settlement between the parties and that an adjournment for such a prolonged date was not warranted.
The Court agreed on the argument that the family court should not have given an adjournment for such a prolonged period. Due to this, Justice Chawla advances the hearing of the case to August 08. Earlier, the case was adjourned till October 18.
The Court further ordered, “The learned Family Court is requested not to grant any unwarranted adjournments to either party, and to make an endeavour for expeditious adjudication of the petition pending before it.”
Advocate Ayushi Jain represented the petitioner-husband.
Advocate Rajal Rai, Advocate Poonam Sharma, and Advocate Rohan Sharma represented the respondent-wife.
Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/family-courts-long-adjournments-referring-parties-counseling-delhi-high-court