Report No. 14
11. First Appeals to the High Courts.-
In examining, therefore, the question of the multiplicity of appeals, let us, in the first instance, take the cases triable exclusively by an officer of the rank of a Subordinate Judge in Madras or Bengal or a Civil Judge, Senior Division, in Bombay or cases triable by a District Judge. These are suits in which the amount or value of the subject-matter in dispute exceeds Rs. 5,000, or in Bombay and Madhya Pradesh Rs. 10,000. A first appeal in such cases, lies direct to the High Court, both on facts and law, except in cases where an appeal can be entertained by the District Court. The following Table shows the volume of this type of work for the years 1954 and 1955.
Table A
Comparative Table Showing The Institution, Disposal and Pendency of First Appeals From Decrees In The High Courts of The Various States During The Years 1954 and 1953
Name of the State |
Pending at the beginning of the year |
Instituted |
Total for disposal |
Disposed of |
Pending at the close of the year |
Remarks |
|||||
1994 |
1955 |
1994 |
1955 |
1954 |
1955 |
1954 |
1955 |
1954 |
1955 |
||
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
Andhra |
2025 |
2210 |
285 |
535 |
2310 |
2745 |
100 |
291 |
2210 |
2454 |
*The actual number of first appeals disposed of was only 500, the remaining 2,054 appeals were transferred to the Andhra High Court. |
Assam |
74 |
82 |
24 |
36 |
98 |
118 |
16 |
14 |
82 |
104 |
|
Bihar |
2206 |
24096 |
552 |
552 |
2758 |
3048 |
262 |
285 |
2496 |
2763 |
|
Bombay(A) |
2070 |
2100 |
826 |
935 |
2896 |
3044 |
787 |
658 |
2109 |
2386 |
(A) The figure shown against this State include Original Side Appeals |
Madhya Pradesh |
1053 |
1017 |
187 |
198 |
1240 |
1215 |
223 |
209 |
1017 |
1006 |
|
Madras |
3987 |
2251 |
818 |
609 |
4805 |
2860 |
2554* |
547 |
2251 |
2313 |
|
Mysore(B) |
824 |
1134 |
356 |
210 |
1180 |
1344 |
46 |
620 |
1134 |
724 |
(B) The figure shown against this State relate to the Official years 1954-1955 and 1955-56 |
Orissa |
314 |
264 |
29 |
46 |
343 |
310 |
81 |
69 |
264 |
243 |
|
Punjab |
941 |
1076 |
309 |
272 |
1250 |
1348 |
174 |
99 |
1076 |
1249 |
|
Rajasthan Travancore-Cochin |
1868 |
1471 |
745 |
795 |
2613 |
2266 |
1142 |
1180 |
1471 |
1086 |
|
West Bengal |
970 |
1053 |
280 |
345 |
1250 |
1398 |
197 |
193 |
1053 |
1205 |
|
19766 |
18903 |
5193 |
5252 |
24959 |
24145 |
6058 |
4521 |
18903 |
19636 |
Note.- The above Statistical data has been supplied by the High Courts.
A comparison of the above figures with the corresponding statistics examined by the Civil Justice Committee for the year 1922 is instructive.
Table B
Province |
Total number of appeals before Courts |
Number of appeals decided |
Number of appeals undecided at the end of the year |
Agra |
1577 |
561 |
1016 |
Bengal including Assam |
784 |
308 |
482(476?) |
Bihar and Orissa |
1033 |
288 |
245 |
Bombay |
951 |
366 |
585 |
Central Provinces and Berar |
402 |
164 |
238 |
Madras |
1502 |
372 |
1135 |
Oudh |
254 |
27 |
127 |
Punjab |
1198 |
234 |
964 |
7706 |
2420 |
5292(5286? |
The above Tables show that the arrears in 1954 and 1955 in this category of work in the High Courts are much heavier than in 1922.
Extent of delays and arrears.- The average duration of these appeals and the number of old appeals on the files of the High Courts will appear from the undermentioned two tables.
Table C
Comparative Table Showing The Average Duration In Days of First Appeal From Decrees Disposed of By The High Courts of Various States.
Name of the State |
Year |
Average duration in days |
Remarks |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Andhra |
1954 |
Not . |
Less 266 days of average duration due to one or more long vacations which intervened in 156 Cases out of a total of 160 Cases. |
1955 |
Available. |
||
Assam (excluding Tribal Areas) |
1953 |
103.2 |
|
1954 |
1122.2 |
||
Bihar |
1953 |
2151.6 |
|
1954 |
1887.1 |
||
Bombay |
1954 |
Not . |
|
1955 |
available. |
||
Madhya Bharat |
1952 |
1285 |
B. Less 363 days of average duration due to one or more long vacations which intervened in 154 Cases out of a total of 155 Cases. |
Madhya Pradesh |
1954 |
2503 |
|
Madras |
1954 |
1305 |
|
1955 |
1262 |
||
Mysore |
1954 |
Not . |
|
1955 |
available. |
||
Orissa |
1954 |
1783 |
|
1955 |
1580 |
||
Punjab |
1954 |
715 |
|
1955 |
737 |
||
Rajasthan |
1954 |
Not. |
|
1955 |
available. |
||
Saurashtra |
1954 |
289 |
|
1955 |
482 |
||
Travancore-Cochin |
1954-1955 |
Not available. |
|
Uttar Pradesh |
1954 |
2037 |
|
1955 |
2145 |
||
West Bengal |
1954 |
1454.0A |
|
1955 |
1564.0B |
Table D
Comparative Table Showing The Pendency of First Appeals In The High Courts of The Various States According To The Years of Institution of The Pending Appeals (As In.-1-1957)
Name of the State |
Earlier than 1939 |
1939 |
1940 |
1941 |
1942 |
1943 |
1944 |
1945 |
1946 |
1947 |
1948 |
1949 |
1950 |
1951 |
1952 |
1953 |
1954 |
1955 |
1956 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
Andhra Pradesh (A) |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
7 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
9 |
11 |
31 |
103 |
514 |
630 |
64 |
692 |
714 |
Assam |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
3 |
18 |
23 |
36 |
32 |
Bihar |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
1 |
18 |
155 |
219 |
257 |
315 |
301 |
262 |
419 |
452 |
689 |
Bombay |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
1 |
.. |
.. |
2 |
38 |
87 |
275 |
322 |
35 |
745 |
629 |
Madhya Pradesh |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
5 |
2 |
29 |
59 |
87 |
130 |
126 |
145 |
242 |
Madras(M) |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
1 |
1 |
5 |
10 |
75 |
468 |
435 |
584 |
826 |
Mysore(C) |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
8 |
37 |
57 |
73 |
180 |
106 |
107 |
Orissa |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
1 |
.. |
1 |
4 |
9 |
15 |
42 |
44 |
36 |
22 |
40 |
62 |
|
Punjab |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
1 |
1 |
23 |
123 |
134 |
229 |
216 |
311 |
282 |
286 |
|
Rajasthan |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
1 |
6 |
26 |
39 |
64 |
141 |
146 |
126 |
|
Travancore Cochin |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
1 |
.. |
.. |
... |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
3 |
42 |
84 |
172 |
333 |
578 |
Uttar Pradesh |
... |
... |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
28 |
100(D) |
195 |
173 |
248 |
188 |
343 |
381 |
363 |
361 |
396 |
513 |
595 |
West Bengal |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
1 |
1 |
4 |
10 |
18 |
51 |
146 |
193 |
205 |
315 |
336 |
Note.- As regards the States Affected by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, it is not known except in the case of those marked A, B & C Above, whether the figure shown against them indicate the position as stood prior to the re-organisation or otherwise.
Remarks.- (A) Includes appeals relating to the Talangana region. (B) Includes appeals from the original side of the High Court and those pending before the Nagpur and Rajkot Benches. (C) Does not include appeals from Madras, Bombay and Hyderabad. (D) Includes appeals instituted earlier and were pending.(M) Includes Original Side City Civil Court Appeals.
It will be noticed that in the case of a number of High Courts the average duration of these appeals exceeds two years and, in some cases, it is as high as five or six years. The two High Courts which show the longest average are Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with an average duration of 2,145 and 2,294 days respectively. It appears that in Madhya Pradesh, the average duration which was 418.7 days in 1922 had increased to 2,294 days in 1954 Uttar Pradesh shows a substantial number of ten-year-old appeals awaiting disposal in 1957. It will be realised, therefore, that emergent and drastic measures will be necessary, if the target for the disposal of these appeals, which we have fixed at two years, is to be reached.