Report No. 14

14. Jurisdiction of subordinate courts.-

Courts of district judges are the principal civil courts of original jurisdiction in the districts and have jurisdiction to try suits valued above Rs. 20,000. The lower judiciary apart from the munsifs has been divided into subordinate judges and civil judges, the former exercising original jurisdiction in suits valued upto Rs. 10,000 and small cause jurisdiction in suits valued upto Rs. 500 (in the case of selected judges) and the latter having original jurisdiction upto Rs. 20,000 (which may be raised upto Rs. 50,000) and appellate jurisdiction upto Rs. 3000. This new cadre of civil judges was created by the Mysore Civil Courts (Amendment) Act (XXIII of 1955). The Civil Judges have also been invested with the powers of the district magistrates under the scheme of the separation of the judiciary from the executive.

Table No. 1

*. Does not include appeals and matters received by transfer under section 62 of the S.R. Act from the High Courted of Bombay, Madras and Hyderabad

Table No. 2

The new cadre of civil judges which is peculiar to this State does not appear to be necessary. A less complicated court structure can be established by abolishing this class of judges-and conferring unlimited pecuniary jurisdiction on subordinate judges. A subordinate judge can also be posted as judicial district magistrate. A common Civil Courts Act for the entire State as reorganised also appears to be necessary.

Thee is also room for raising the small cause jurisdiction of munsifs and subordinate judges particularly in commercial centres like Bangalore and Bellary.

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