Report No. 14

41. State of file in magisterial courts.-

The magistracy unlike the civil judiciary does not appear to be inadequate in strength. Though there is scope for improvement, the delay in the magistrates courts is not so great as to cause alarm. Our attention was, however, drawn to delays in investigation. The following statement indicates the work done by the magisterial courts during 1954-56.

Table No. 7

Statement Showing The Criminal work Done by Magistrates In Uttar Pradesh

	Cases under I.P.C.					Other Cases
Year	Pending at the beginning of the year	Institutions	Disposal	Pending at the end of the year	Cases more than one year old	Pending at the beginning of the year	Institutions	Disposal	Pending at the end of the year	Cases more than year old
1954	20672	98878	97443	22107	244	30442	280480	282560	28362	335
1955	22107	99546	99187	22446	354	28362	210443	305587	33218	526
1956	22453*	99981	100846	21588	286	33218	303434	307071	29481	174

*. There is a slight discrepancy. These figures have been supplied by the High Court

It will appear from this Statement, that the magisterial courts are able to cope with the current institutions and that the total number of pending matters is generally one-fifth of the disposing capacity of the Magistrates. We have not got the figures of the average duration of cases under the I.P.C., but that there has been some improvement in the criminal judicial work is evident from the fact that the average duration of a criminal case in the court of stipendiary magistrates decreased from 27 days in 1951 to 17 days in 1955. Further, the number of cases pending over 6 weeks decreased from 1619 in 1951 to 1287 in 1955.

42. Panchayat courts-

constitution.-

Panchayat courts, called "Nyaya Panchayats" are constituted under the Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1947. For the purpose of jurisdiction every district is divided into Panchayat circles, each circle consisting of about 5 Gaon Sabha. Originally, each Gaon Sabha was asked to elect 5 persons to act as panchas for the court. The panel of 20 to 25 members thus elected to every Nyaya Panchayat elected one amongst them as Sarpanch. Five of them formed the quorum.

This mode of constituting the Nyaya Panchayat was however considered unsatisfactory and later the law was amended so as to introduce the element of selection in the Nyaya Panchayats. The panchayat courts as constituted at present consist of five persons who are appointed by the prescribed authority from amongst those who are elected for the purpose by Gaon Sabhas. This method is an improvement on the old "mode of constituting the panchayat courts. The term of every panch is five years from the date of his appointment.

43. Jurisdiction.-

The Nyaya Panchayat exercises civil jurisdiction in certain specified classes of cases upto the value of Rs. 100 but the State Government may in suitable cases raise the jurisdiction to Rs. 500. The decision of the court is by majority. The court also exercises criminal jurisdiction in respect of certain specified offences of simple nature under the Indian Penal Code and some other minor Acts. The court is not competent to inflict substantive sentence of imprisonment but it may impose fine not exceeding Rs. 100. No imprisonment can be awarded in default of payment of fine. The court can also bind over a person for keeping the peace for a period not exceeding 15 days. There is no provision for an appeal against the decisions of the panchayat courts but, revision lies to the Munsif in civil cases and to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate in criminal cases.

44. Cases before Panchayat Courts.-

The following statement shows the civil and criminal work done by the panchayat courts from the years 1953 to 1956:

Statement Showing The Institution of Civil And Criminal Proceedings In The Panchayat Courts During The Years 1953 To 1956

Year	Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposal	Balance at the ending of the year
Civil
1953	27332	97590	1,10,101	14821
1954	14821	88242	90624	12439
1955	12439	61402	61976	1865
1956(a)	11865	15934	13447	14352
Criminal
1954	21935	1,11,042	1,21,496	11481
1955	12,550 (b)	67368	63457	16461
1956(b)	16461	21229	9021	18669

Note.- (a) Figures for the year 1956 are not complete.

(b) It seems there is some discrepancy in figures.

It would appear from the above statement that a very large number of cases, both civil and criminal, have been disposed of by the panchayat courts. We understand that people are ordinarily satisfied with the decisions of the panchayat courts. This is evident from the fact that in only about 5 per cent. of the cases revision applications are filed in the regular courts against their decisions. We have not got up-to-date figures with regard to the writ applications in the High Court against the decisions of the Nyaya panchayats but during the three years from 1950 to 1952, the High Court disposed of 295 such writ applications out of which in 253 cases (i.e. 79 per cent.) the decisions of the panchayats were upheld.1 Our general recommendations in regard to Panchayat courts are applicable to this State also.

1. Village Panchayats in India, by H.D. Malaviya, p. 308

45. Control over ministerial establishment.-

Another feature which needs mention is that in this State even in respect of disciplinary action taken against a member of the ministerial establishment by the District Judge an appeal lies to the Government only. We would suggest that in the case of disciplinary action against members of the staff of subordinate courts by the District Judge, the High Court as the head of the judiciary should be the appellate authority.

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