Report No. 14

8. State of the file.-

Table No. 1 below shows the civil and criminal work done by the High Court from 1950 to the 30th October, 1957. The figures relating to the years 1951 to 1956 (30th October, 1956) relate to the old High Court of Nagpur. The figures pertaining to the new High Court relate only to the period of 12 months, from 1st November, 1956 to 1st October, 1957. Table No. 2 shows the year of institution of proceedings pending on 1st January, 1957 in the new High Court.

Table No. 1

Statement Showing Civil and Criminal Work Done By The High Court of Madhya Pradesh During The Years 1951-1957 During the Years 1951-1957

Year		1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956 upto 30-10-56	1956 From.-11-56 to 31-12-56			1957 Upton 30-10-57
No. of Judges		9	9	10	10	10	10	JBL	Indore	GWL	Total
First Appeals against Decrees	I	171	189	188	187	198	199	56	14	5	75	122
	D	132	114	114	223	209	117	23	9	2	34	231
	P	904	979	1053	1017	1006	509(784)	542	195	88	825	716
Second Appeals against Decrees	I	924	971	904	842	1061	966	116	81	56	253	664
	D	948	810	1153	1038	871	746	38	20	19	77	960
	P	2984	3145	2896	2700	2890	1323(2129)	1401	662	242	2305	2279
Appeals against Orders	I	188	252	203	203	272	215	33	18	6	57	222
	D	272	357	265	237	229	227	12	9	2	23	141
	P	424	315	254	220	263	-115(285)	136	149	34	319	400
Letters Patent Appeals	I	29	40	65	117	166	217	30	..	..	30	100
	D	32	39	41	59	98	125	18	..	..	18	312
	P	104	105	129	187	255	347(360)	359	8	5	372	160
Civil Revisions	I	950	811	957	982	1040	907	64	173	37	274	888
	D	1011	774	897	953	1098	833	38	116	17	171	726
	P	434	471	531	560	502	235(713)	261	464	91	816	978
Writ petitions	I	270	223	278	534	577	546	47	45	1	93	280
	D	216	216	305	473	407	435	30	15	5	50	227
	P	253	260	233	238	408	217(350)	234	112	47	393	452
Criminal Appeals	I	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.	348	407	376	79	72	15	166	592
	D	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.	377	402	320	26	58	22	106	552
	P	N.A.	N.A.	127	138	136	-147(322)	200	107	75	382	422
Criminal Revision	I	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.	935	900	767	108	70	41	219	792
	D	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.	784	920	688	50	34	41	145	866
	P	N.A.	N.A.	370	421	101	250(400)	308	131	35	474	392

(a) I=Institution.

D = Disposal

P = Pendency

JBL = Jubbelpore

GWL=Gwalior

(b) The figures shown in brackets against pendency under the year 1956 show the number of cases pending on.-11-56, when the new cour was constituted.

(c) On.-11-56, the following number of proceedings were transferred to the High Court of Bombay.

(I) First Appeals	579
(2) Second Appeal	1787
(3) Appeals against Orders	136
(4) Letters Patent Appeals	260
(5) Civil Revisions	341
(6) Writ Petitions	302
(7) Criminal Appeals	52
(8) Criminal Revisions	230

These figures have not been included in Disposal or Pendency columns of 1956.

9. Adequacy of strength.-

At the time of the reorganization, 6868 matters were pending in the old High Court of Nagpur, out of which 3524 matters were transferred to the High Court of Bombay. With the abolition of the High Court of Madhya Bharat and the Judicial Commissioners' courts for Bhopal and Vindhya Pradesh, 2513 matters pending in these courts were transferred to the new High Court, thus bringing the total pending matters in the High Court to 5857, with which the new Court started on 1st November, 1956. During the period of one year from 1st November, 1956 to 30th October, 1957, a total of 5657 matters were instituted.

The disposal during this period was 5215, with the result that at the end of the period of twelve months, the total of pending matters in the High Court rose to 6309, as against 5857 with which it had started. The strength of the High Court during this period was 10 judges. It is still too early to estimate the volume of future institutions, but taking the institutions during this period of twelve months as average, it is evident, that with a strength of ten judges it will not be possible for the High Court to cope with the current institutions. The average disposal per judge works out at about 520 cases per year as against 850 in the High Court of Allahabad.

This low average disposal is apparently due to the wastage of judge-power arising out of the High Court working at three different places and the difficulties arising as a consequence of the shifting of the High Court to a new location. Whatever may be the reason, on the basis of current disposals it would appear that at least twelve to thirteen judges would be necessary to cope with the current institutions. It was said that one more Judge would be necessary to deal with special matters like Election petitions etc. Some more judges would be necessary to deal with the accumulated arrears. An additional judge or two for a short period seem to be necessary. The situation may be watched for some time and, if necessary, temporary judges may be appointed to clear off the arrears.

10. Congestion of First and Second Appeals.-

It will appear from Table Nos. 1 and 2 that there is a great deal of congestion of First and Second Appeals which have been pending in the Court for many years. At the current rate of disposal of First and Second Appeals it would appear, that two to three years will be necessary to dispose of the existing accumulation of First and Second Appeals. We have not been able to ascertain the average duration of the First and Second Appeals that were disposed of by the High Court during the years 1956 to 1957, but it may be noticed that in the old High Court of Nagpur, the average duration of First and Second Appeals in 1954 was 2503 days (i.e., about 6 years and 10 months) and 1604 days (i.e. about 4 years and 5 months) respectively. Special efforts are therefore necessary to bring about a quick disposal of these classes of proceedings.

The appellate jurisdiction of District Judges in the Mahakoshal area was raised to Rs. 10,000 in 1956 but this change was not given retrospective effect. If such retrospective effect is given throughout the entire state-and is made applicable even to suits instituted prior to the amendment, it should give substantial relief to the High Court.

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