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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.







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