Report No. 14

Reform of Judicial Administration

Contents
	Reform of Judicial Administration
Volume 1
1.	Introductory
	Introductory (1)
	Introductory (2)
2.	Historical
	First Law Commission
3.	The Judicial System
	Efficiency of Judicial machinery essential
Table I	Statement Showing The Number of Criminal Cases, Number of Accused Persons In Those Cases and The Number of Witnesses Who Attended or Were Examined In The Courts of Various States In The Year 1953
Table II	Statement Showing The Number of Criminal Cases, Number of Accused Persons In Those Cases and The Number of Witnesses Who Attended or Were Examined In The Courts of Various States In The Year 1953
4.	Indigenous System
	Scope of Enquiry
5.	The Supreme Court
	The role of the Supreme Court
	Pensions of Judges in India and abroad
	Not acceptable
Tables I to V	Statement Regarding Petitions For Special Leave to Appeal in Labour Matters, 1950-1957
6.	High Courts
	Scope of enquiry-arrears and general questions
	Working of the procedure
	Cause of the attitude
	Bar on employment after retirement
	Hours of work
	Benches of High Courts
7.	High Courts-original Side
	Original jurisdiction of the High Courts in the presidency towns
	Retention favoured by the commercial community
Table I and II	Table Showing The Average Disposal of Suits Per Day in The City Civil Court
8.	Adequacy of Judicial Strength
	Laws' delays: An ancient complaint
	Comparative Showing The Institution, Disposal and Pendency of Certain Categories of Civil Proceedings In The Courts of Munsifs or officers of Corresponding Carde in The Various States for The year 1956
	Courts of munsifs and subordinate judges
	Inadequacy of judicial personnel in Uttar Pradesh
9.	Subordinate Judiciary
	Competent judicial officers necessary
	Suggested designations
	Age limit for entry-maximum thirty
	Allotment to other States
	Munsifs' starting pay too low
	Financial implications of the proposed scales of pay
	Recommendation by Medical Board of High Court not necessary
	Conditions in West Bengal
10.	Supervision and Control of Subordinate Courts
	Need for and importance of supervision
	Periodical inspections
	Supervision at the High Court level
11.	Delays in Civil Proceedings
	Delays in Civil Proceedings
	Low percentage of old suits
12.	Jurisdiction of Civil Courts
	Set up of Civil Courts
	Powers under the Succession Act (Delegation recommended)
13.	Courts of Small Causes
	History
	Article 8 (Suits for rent)
	Criticism of concurrent jurisdiction (Abolition recommended)
14.	Trial of Suits
	Pleadings
	Corruption in the process serving staff
	Neglect of provisions for discovery and inspection
	Position in India (Provisions of Civil Procedure Code)
	Uncontested matters
	Unjustified adjournments (Need for strictness)
	Arguments
	Recommendations
15.	Civil Appeals
	Appeals, Scope of Existing law relating to
	First Appeals to the High Courts
	Raising of appellate jurisdiction of district judges
	Low value of second appeals
	views of the Rankin Committee
16.	Civil Appellate Procedure
	Civil Appellate Procedure
	Admissions not sufficiently strict
	Adjournment of appeals (Chaotic conditions in certain courts)
	Power of remand (Amendment suggested.)
17.	Civil Revisions
	Revisional jurisdiction of the High Courts
	Careful scrutiny absent
	Deposit condition precedent to revision
18.	Execution of Decrees
	Difficulty of obtaining satisfaction for decrees-an old complaint
	Sale of immovable property
	Admission of appeal conditional on security
	Recommendation of the Rankin Committee
	Claims and objections to attachment
	Summary of recommendations
19.	Written Arguments
	Arrears and delays in the Supreme Court and the High Courts
	Case for written arguments
20.	Suits Against Government
	Suits Against Government
21.	Costs
	Costs
	To be allowed in taxation
22.	Court-Fees
	Heavy court-fees-a unique feature of India
	Administration of justice a duty of the State
	Receipts
	Position in States
	Evershed Committee
23.	Insolvency
	Laws relating to insolvency in India
24.	The Law of Evidence
	The Law of Evidence
25.	Legal Education
	Previous enquiries
	Academic and vocational training
	The case for a three-year law course
	Full-time teachers necessary
	Combination of employment or post-graduate studies with legal education to stop
	Council of legal education
	Summary of recommendations
Appendix	The Training of Law Apprentices in The State of Madras1
26.	The Bar
	Importance of the Bar
	Only one Bar Association for one Court
	Attempt at division in the Supreme Court
	Sufficient response likely
	views of the Bar Committee endorsed
	Summary of Conclusions
27.	Legal Aid
	Equality before the law implied legal aid
	Conscription of lawyers or compulsion
Appendix I	An Outline of Scheme of Legal Aid as Proposed by The Committee on Legal Aid and Legal Advice in The State of Bombay
	Test to be applied before grant of Legal Aid
Appendix II	Recommendation of The Trevor Harries Committee on Legal Aid in West Bengal
Appendix III	Existing Facilities for Legal Aid
Appendix IV	Voluntary Organisations for free Legal Aid to Poor Persons
28.	Law Reports
	Critics of the existing system
	Restrictions on publication and citation and possible
	Monopoly of reporting undesirable
	Specialised reports
	The Council of Law Reporting in England-Composition and objects
	Better trained Bar and Judiciary
29.	Language
	The scope of our enquiry
	Benefits of English and need for unity of language
Volume 2
30.	Writs
	Jurisdiction under Article 226
	Writ Petitions: institutions and disposals
	To be left to the High Courts
	Statement Showing The Number of Writ Petitions Relating To Central and State Taxation Laws In Various High Courts During The Years 1954, 1955 and 1956
	No case for abolition of jurisdiction
31.	Administrative Bodies
	The courts in the Constitution
	Their increase
	History and procedure
	Foreign Systems (General)
	Existing constitutional remedies not to be curtailed
32.	Law Reform and Legislation
	The role of a permanent Law Commission: views of Lord Macaulay
	Composition of this body
	The Lok Sabha Committee on Subordinate Legislation
	Essentials-Adequate time; trained draftsmen
33.	Organisation of Criminal Courts
	Classes of criminal courts
	Appointment and training of honorary magistrates in Uttar Pradesh
	First Class magistrates
	Division into summons and warrant cases arbitrary
	Summary trials
34.	Investigation by The Police
	Cognizable and non-cognizable offences
	Delays in investigation
	Investigation by junior officers
	Public co-operation
	Corroboration of retracted confessions
	Duration limited
35.	Prosecuting Agency-director of Public Prosecutions
	The role of Public Prosecutors
	Main defects of Prosecution machinery in India
	A full-time Government Servant
36.	Delays in Criminal Trials and Inquires
	Separation as a means to speedy disposal
	Section 487, Criminal Procedure Code to be amended
	The position in England
37.	Committal Proceedings
	Who may commit
	Case for the old procedure
38.	Criminal Appeals
	Right of appeal in criminal cases
	Anomalies in the right of appeal
	Powers of a single judge of the High Court
	Section 421 Cr. P.C
	Acceptance of the doctrine of "compelling reasons"
39.	Criminal Revisions and Inherent Powers
	Courts of revision and their powers
	Retention of revisional powers of district magistrates
40.	Administration of Criminal Justice-general
	Perjury
	Special cases: section 106, Evidence Ac
	Lack of sanction
41.	Separation of Judicial and Executive Functions
	Constitutional directive and the present position
	Contrary views
	Personnel and machinery for supervision
42.	Trial by Jury
	General opinion for abolition of Jury trials
	The case for the Jury
43.	Panchayats
	The Civil Justice Committee of 1924-25 observed
	Their procedure
Table II and III	Civil Jurisdiction
Table IV and V	Statement Showing The Number of Suits Disposed of By The Village and Panchayat Courts In The Various States For The Years 1953 and 1954
	Large number of cases compromised
	Courts more accessible
	Procedure Codes not to apply
	Outsiders to hear cases
	Conclusions
44.	Andhra Pradesh
	Andhra Pradesh
	Jurisdiction of civil courts
	In Subordinate Judges Courts
	Enhancement of jurisdiction in Telangana
	Transfer of work to District Courts
	The High Court
45.	Assam
	The Judicial Service
	Administration of Justice in the tribal areas
	Increasing power of single judge
	District Courts-Increase in number of judge necessary
46.	Bihar
	General
	Statement Showing Details of The Proceedings Pending On 1st January, 1957 According To The Year Of Institution
	Paper books
	State of file in District Courts
	Suggestions
	Court of Session
47.	Bombay
	Area and Population
	The Court of The Civil Judge of in The District of
	Inspection Report
Table 1	Appellate Side
Table 2	Original Side
Table 3 and 4	Insolvency Jurisdiction
Table 5 and 6	Presidency Small Cause Court, Bombay
48.	Kerala
	Kerala
	Pendency.
	The subordinate courts
	Subordinate Judges' courts
	Panchayat Courts
49.	Madhya Pradesh
	General
	State of the file
	Powers of Single Judge
	Link system of courts
50.	Madras
	Area and population
	Supervision of civil courts
	Statement Showing Detail of The Proceedings Pending on.-5-57 in The High Court If Madras According to The Year of Institutions of The Pending Proceedings
	The City Civil Court and the original side
	In Munsifs' courts
51.	Mysore
	Area and population
	Jurisdiction of subordinate courts
	State of work
	Subordinate Judges
	Disposal of ex-parte suits
52.	Orissa
	Orissa
	Regular Suits in The Court's of Munsifs
	Table Output of Work Per Year of a Munsif
	Court of district and sessions judges
	High Court
	Statement Showing Details of The Proceedings Pending on.-1-57 According to The Year of Institution
	Honorary Magistrates
53.	Punjab
	Area and population
	Statement Showing The Institution and Disposal of Civil and Criminal Proceeding in The Punjab High Court
	Enhancement of powers of a single judge
	State of civil work
	Statement Showing NUmber of Suits Pending in The Various Subordinate Courts on The First of January 1956, Classified According to the Year Institution
	Supervision
54.	Rajasthan
	General
	Delays in criminal courts and the manner of conducting criminal cases
	Delays in civil courts
	High Court
	Courts of District and Sessions Judges and Civil and Additional Sessions Judges
	Courts of civil judges
	Courts of Munsifs
	Pecuniary jurisdiction of Munsifs Courts-Enhancement of
55.	Uttar Pradesh
	General
	Statement Showing The work Done in The High Court of Allahabad During The Year 1948-1956
	Average duration
	Regular Suits in The Courts of Munsifs
	Statement Showing The Civil Work Done By District Judges, Civil and Session Judges and Civil Judges During The Years 1954-56
	Inadequacy of judicial strength-a long standing problem
	Slip system
	State of file in magisterial courts
56.	West Bengal
	Area-Population
	City Civil and Sessions Court
	High Courts
	City Civil and Sessions Court
	Powers of a Single Judge
	Courts of Presidency Magistrates
	Calcutta City
	Training
	District Courts
	Supervision and inspection
57.	Ministry of Justice and Implementation of Recommendations
	Governmental apathy and the problem of arrears
	Note By Shri V.K.T. Chari
	Legal Education
	The Bar
	Language
	Administrative Bodies
	High Courts-original Civil Jurisdiction
Appendix I	Questionnaire
	Part I
	Section A
	Section B
	Section C
	Section D
	Section E
	Section F
	Section G
	Section H
	Section I
	Section J
	Section K
Part II	Criminal Law and Procedure
	Criminal Law and Procedure
Appendix II	List of Witnesses Examined by The Law Commission
	List of Witnesses Examined by The Law Commission (1)
	List of Witnesses Examined by The Law Commission (2)
	List of Witnesses Examined by The Law Commission (3)
	List of Witnesses Examined by The Law Commission (4)