Report No. 14

19. District Courts.-

The highest court of Original Jurisdiction in the District is the one presided over by District Judge. Besides exercising administrative control over the subordinate judiciary in the District and disposing of civil appeals valued upto Rs. 10,000 and also sessions cases and criminal appeals against the judgments of First-Class Magistrates and Assistant Sessions Judges, the District Judge is called upon to try matters arising out of a number of special enactments such as are enumerated below:

(i) Under the Land Alienation Act, the District Judge has been vested with exclusive revisional jurisdiction against the orders passed by Revenue and other officers under the Act.

(ii) Under the Estates Acquisition Act, the District Judge has been given summary revisional jurisdiction against orders passed during cadastral survey. (There are about 500 such cases pending in Alipore District Court).

(iii) Divorce cases under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. Such cases are exclusively triable by the District Judge.

(iv) Divorce suits under the Hindu Marriage Act. These are to be heard by the District Judge or any other court notified. But as yet no other court has been so authorised.

(v) Railway Compensation cases under the Railways Act.

(vi) Transfer petitions to the Sessions Judge under section 528 Criminal Procedure Code.

(vii) Revisional jurisdiction against orders passed by Panchayat Courts.

(viii) Appeals against orders not recognising trade unions under the Trade Unions Act.

(ix) Matters under the Payment of Wages Act.

(x) Special Revisional jurisdiction under the Indian Oil Seeds Act.

Table No. 14

		Regular Civil Suits					Small Cause Suits
Year	No. of officers	Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposal	Balance		Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposal	Balance
					Below one year	Above one year				Below one year	Above one year
1954	39	6532	3234	3964	2700	3942	901	2109	2239	847	56
1955	35	6642	3144	3557	2618	4105	399	2446	2231	1232	75
1956	36	6723	3224	3291	2781	4496	1307	2909	2465	1786	189

	Civil Miscellaneous case and Petition					Civil Appeals					Civil Miscellaneous Appeal
Year	Pending at the beginning of the	Institution	Disposal	Balance		Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposal	Balance		Pending at the beginning of the	Institution	Disposal	Balance
				Below one year	Over one year				Below one year	Over one year				Below one year	Over one year
1954	1535	3841	3947	1250	224	2235	158	3365	923	1287	352	73	1161	295	80
1955	1474	3268	3773	1304	195	2209	205	3892	1065	1364	376	98	1730	287	46
1956	1499	3926	3591	1614	278	2429	175	2766	962	1673	332	79	1739	428	99

(xi) The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act which provides for the trial of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act by a Special Judge, takes away much of Sessions Judge's time as generally he acts as the Special Judge. Of course, where there is an Additional Sessions Judge, he is invariably empowered to deal with such cases. Experience has shown that generally petty corruption cases, which would ordinarily have been tried by magistrates as offences under the Penal Code are sent up to the Special Judge for trial in view of the procedural advantages available under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The proceedings under the following Acts have normally to be initiated in the Court of the District Judge:-

(i) Land Acquisition Act.

(ii) Guardians and Wards Act.

(iii) Under section 92, Civil Procedure Code.

The High Court has not authorised the District Judge to transfer cases under the Guardians and Wards Act to Subordinate Judges nor has it authorised any officer subordinate to District Judge to deal with these matters. We would-suggest that powers to try and determine cases under special enactments be more widely conferred on subordinate judges.

The Subordinate Judges and Munsifs have been invested with powers to issue succession certificates within their pecuniary and territorial jurisdiction.

A perusal of the figures given in the accompanying Table (Table No. 15) shows that the total number of pending regular suits and appeals in the district courts has been progressively increasing. Immediate steps will have to be taken to bring down the arrears by appointing additional district judges at least for a term. This will be all the more necessary in view of the recent enhancement of the appellate jurisdiction of the District Judge which we have suggested should be given retrospective effect.

We have earlier noticed the chaotic conditions that obtained in the Alipore courts at one time with regard to civil appellate work as revealed in an inspection note and made suggestions in that behalf.

Table No. 15

		Civil Suits					Small Cause Suits					Miscellaneous Civil Cases and Petitions
Year	No. of officers	Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposal	Balance		Pending at the beginning of the year	Institutions	Disposal	Balance		Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposed	Balance
					Below one year	Over one year				Below one year	Over one year				Below one year	Over one year
1954	27	231	195	114	155	103	..	..	..	..	..	3193	2913	2621	1449	2036
1955	29	258	259	143	195	119	..	..	..	..	..	3487	4734	3737	2617	1629
1956	30	312	643	245	447	136	..	..	..	..	..	4160	6077	4246	4128	1839

	Civil Appeals					Civil Miscellaneous Appeals
Year	Pending at the beginning of the year	Instituting	Disposal	Balance		Pending at the beginning of the year	Instituting	Disposed	Balance
				Below ne year	Above one year				Below ne year	Above one year
1954	2787	4342	1304	2421	453	894	2589	1054	903	25
1955	2872	4465	1267	2644	572	925	2842	960	1236	40
1956	3218	4242	1006	2912	1002	1238	4987	1106	3117	182

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