Report No. 14

20. Courts of District and Sessions Judges and Civil and Additional Sessions Judges.-

For the purpose of the administration of justice the State which comprises twenty-five districts has been divided into fifteen judgeships. Besides fifteen District and Sessions Judges stationed at the headquarters of each of the judgeships, seventeen Civil and Additional Sessions Judges having civil and criminal jurisdiction co-extensive with that of district and sessions judges functioned during the three years immediately preceding 1957 apart from the officers stationed at Ajmer and Abu Road; out of them eight were stationed at the headquarters of districts other than those where district courts were located, five at the headquarters of the district judges and the rest at other places.

The cadre of Civil and Additional Sessions Judges seems to have been modelled on the system obtaining in Uttar Pradesh, and seems to be a device by which officers who are really doing the work of Additional District and Sessions Judges may be placed on a lower pay scale.

21. The judicial business transacted by the courts of district and sessions judges and civil and additional sessions judges in the triennium ending with 1956 is shown in the accompanying Table (Table No. 5). The average duration of original suits disposed of by the district judges and civil and additional sessions judges during the years 1954 and 1955 is given in Table No. 6.

Table No. 5

	No. of officers	Civil Suits					Small Cause Suits					Miscellaneous Civil Cases and Petition
Year		Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposal	Balance		Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposal	Balance		Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposal	Balance
					Below one Year	Over one year				Below one Year	Over one year				Below one Year	Over one year
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
District Judges
1954	15	392	112	204	76	224	..	..	..	..	..	475	883	918	315	125
1955	15	300	139	136	99	204	..	..	..	..	..	440	1031	954	393	124
1956*	16	308	135	127	95	221	..	..	..	..	..	597	1308	1218	507	180
Civil and Additional Sessions Judges
1954	17	1171	1247	1264	705	449	941	2786	2923	742	62	235	681	588	261	67
1955	17	1154	1429	1376	804	403	804	3086	3086	803	23	328	799	773	288	66
1956	17	1207	1404	1286	795	530	856	2871	2933	740	24	354	834	791	326	71

Civil Appeals					Civil Miscellaneous Appeals
Pending at the beginning of the year	Institutions	Disposal	Balance		Pending at the beginning of the year	Institutions	Disposal	Balance
			Below one year	Over One year				Below one year	Over One year
18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27
1637	2379	2462	1201	353	365	686	704	299	48
1554	2118	2213	1103	356	347	681	697	275	56
1684	2729	2487	1477	449	415	805	748	372	100
536	1108	1014	548	82	96	244	232	97	11
630	1035	1102	491	72	108	207	224	84	7
563	876	1010	375	54	91	215	227	74	5

*. Includes the work turned out by the District and Sessions Judge, Ajmer in 1956.

	No. of officers	Session Cases					Criminal Appeals					Criminal Revisions
Year		Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposal	Balance		Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposal	Balance		Pending at the beginning of the year	Institution	Disposal	Balance
					Below one year	Over one year				Below one year	Over one year				Below one year	Over one year
District and Sessions Judges
1954	15	234	525	567	177	15	321	1648	1611	341	17	353	662	872	209	34
1955	15	192	502	517	171	6	358	1490	1504	333	11	243	844	812	254	21
1956*	16	120	709	631	240	18	388	1737	1719	391	15	313	1197	1124	362	24
Civil and Additional Session Judges
1954	17	239	391	454	146	30	126	994	480	140	..	61	388	375	70	4
1955	17	176	349	354	146	25	140	807	822	124	1	74	356	354	76	..
1956	17	171	477	460	181	7	125	906	843	188	..	76	394	396	74	..

Table No. 6

Class of Courts	1954		1955
	After contest	Without contest	After contest	Without contest
1	2	3	4	5
District Judge's Courts	921	713	905	524
Civil and Additional Session Judge Courts	512	202	587	170

22. The file in these courts is not heavy; yet, the number of a year old suits and the average duration of suits disposed of after contest are high. Even uncontested suits seem to have taken a long time. Nor is the file on the criminal side heavy. On an average, each judge has only about thirty to thirty-five sessions cases for disposal every year; the average duration of sessions cases disposed was between 190 and 200 days during any one of the five years preceding 1956. It is necessary to reduce the average duration of the different categories of proceedings disposed of by these courts.

23. We feel that this can be achieved by investing the civil judges with unlimited jurisdiction and by transferring to them all the original suits other than those exclusively triable by district judges. The appeals pending before the courts of civil judges may be transferred to district courts. If this is done, perhaps, it would not be necessary to retain the existing strength of officers, namely, fifteen District Judges and seventeen Civil and Additional Sessions Judges. The latter cadre of posts may be abolished and the number of District and Sessions Judges raised so as to enable them to cope with the sessions cases and civil and criminal appellate work. By degrees, the appellate jurisdiction of these officers should be raised to Rs. 10,000.

Back

Index

Next