Report No. 79

15.5. Curtailment establishment of City Civil Courts.-

The jurisdiction of the three High Courts in the Presidency Towns came to be limited with the establishment, at different times, of the City Civil Courts, in all the Presidency towns. In Madras, the original civil jurisdiction of the Madras High Court was curtailed by the establishment of the civil court for the city of Madras in the year 1892, with jurisdiction in respect of suits or other proceedings of a civil nature not exceeding Rs. 25,000 in value. The limit was gradually raised, until it was Rs. 50,000 in the year 1955.

This continues to be so up to the present time. The ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the Madras High Court, at present, is only in regard to matters exceeding Rs. 50,000 in value. The jurisdiction of the Bombay City Civil Court, according to the City Civil Court Act, 1916, was initially Rs. 10,000. It was raised to Rs. 25,000 in January, 1950 and subsequently raised to Rs. 50,000.

In Calcutta, the City Civil Court was established only in the year 1957, with a pecuniary jurisdiction of Rs. 10,000. In regard to certain types of suits-compendiously described as "commercial causes"-its jurisdiction was restricted to suits and proceedings not exceeding Rs. 5,000. Some other exceptions were also made in regard to certain other types of suits which were lot cognizable by this court, but they are not material for the present purpose. At present, the jurisdictional limit of the City Civil Court at Calcutta is Rs. 50,000.