Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: As a follow-up action to the letter received from the Chief Justice of India, the Gauhati High Court issued an SOP (standard operating procedure) regarding austerity measures to be adopted by the high court and its outlying benches and district courts.
According to the SOP that will be effective from May 25, 2026, and continue until June 26, 2026, all matters listed before the courts on Mondays and Fridays will be heard preferably through video conferencing. To ensure optimum utilization of fuel, the judges of the Gauhati High Court are encouraged to adopt car-pooling arrangements wherever possible/feasible. The use of official vehicles for administrative errands shall be restricted. The department/section is directed to club multiple requirements into a single trip where possible.
The SOP further said that up to 50 percent of staff in each section shall attend the office on every alternate day, subject to administrative convenience. The administrative file movements and communications must be processed strictly through the e-Office platform. Physical movement of such files is discouraged unless the matter is required to be processed physically and movement thereof is not otherwise feasible. Staff on roster not physically present must remain available via telephone/mobile and e-office during official hours and be ready to attend the office at short notice, if required. Registrars of respective sections shall prepare and notify a weekly roster before the commencement of each week. Administrative officers (judicial) shall monitor the e-Office dashboard to ensure the timely completion of assigned tasks.
The SOP also said that all the administrative meetings of the different committees will be held through video conferencing, and the briefs of the meetings will be shared through email to the committee members. The protocol section, filing section, copying section, bench section, computer section & the e-Courts division are exempt from the aforesaid work-from-home arrangements and fuel conservation measures. Given the essential nature of their duties—specifically the requirement for physical coordination and the technical mandate to maintain stable videoconferencing and server facilities—these sections shall remain fully operational on-site to ensure the continuity of court proceedings and administrative support. If any competent authority believes that the roster arrangement is hindering the essential functioning of a specific branch, they may modify or restrict these arrangements for that branch with prior approval from the Registrar General.
District judges, chief judicial magistrates, and subdivisional judicial magistrates in Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh shall issue separate notifications to implement this SOP in their districts.