Report No. 114

3.8. Previous Report.-

The Fifty-fourth Report of the Law Commission exhaustively examined the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, with a view not only to streamlining the procedure but to make it less formal, more simple and conducive to expeditious disposal of cases and controversies coming before the court. The Seventy-seventh Report also made certain suggestions in this direction for reducing the delay in trial of suits before the trial courts and marginalise the arrears. Pursuant to these Reports, certain amendments were carried out. The Commission was interested in ascertaining the impact of these amendments. The statistical information furnished to the Commission revealed that instead, of improving, the situation had considerably deteriorated and the pendency, since the reports, had practically doubled. In para. 2.3 of the working paper, the figures have been set out.

The Commission was aware of a possible pitfall in that merely devising a participatory forum by itself would not effectively tackle the problem if it is burdened with the same procedure in dealing with the disputes coming before it. Processual justice, in the opinion of the Commission, has overtaken substantial justice. Numerous decisions rendered by the High Courts and the Supreme Court on the provisions of the. Code of Civil Procedure would bear out this statement. Therefore, the Commission suggested that the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and the more cumbersome Indian Evidence Act, 1872, will not apply to the proceedings before the participatory forum. The Commission, accordingly, proposed that a very simple procedure which permits a decision to be reached expeditiously and effectively, informed by justice, equity and good conscience would govern the proceedings before the new forum.