Report No. 14

21. Receipts.-

The receipts by way of court-fees in criminal courts are very small. We would therefore be correct in assuming that the revenue from court-fees is almost wholly derived from civil courts.

The next item of receipt is under "XXI-Administration of justice".

Revenue and Receipts

	XX.- Administration of Justice	Accounts
		1953-54
		Rs.
1	Sale proceeds of unclaimed and escheated property	2,41654
2	Court-fees realised in cash	73966
3	General fees fines and forfeitures	57,99,618
4	Pleadership and Mukhtearship examination fees	19834
5	Receipts of the Official Assignee	1,38,568
6	Miscellaneous Fees and Fines	12,63,351
7	Miscellaneous	2,40,488
8	Recoveries of over payments	62187
9	Collection of payments for services rendered	75419
	Total	80,15,085
	Deduct refunds	3,00,990
	Net Total	77,14,095

There would appear to be no doubt that items 2 and 5 are exclusively attributable to the civil courts. We have excluded item 4 altogether from consideration as it is really not derived from the administration of justice. It is not clear whether sale proceeds of unclaimed and escheated property, recoveries of overpayments and collection of payments for services rendered, relate to civil or criminal administration. Though it is highly probable that these items of revenue are mostly derived from civil administration, we have thought it fair to allocate these amounts in equal shares between civil and criminal administration. Similarly, on examining the details of other heads, we find clear indications in respect of some of these items establishing that they relate to civil or criminal justice.

Obviously magisterial fines and fines realized in prosecutions instituted by Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals would be wholly derived from criminal courts. These are parts of the items of general fines. In the case of the other items, they could equally be derived either from civil or criminal courts. We have divided them in equal shares. We have dealt with other items included in "miscellaneous fees and fines" on similar lines. Fees of Court Receiver and Liquidator, and fees of the Administrator General and Official Trustee are clearly attributable to civil courts. Some other .sub-items are allocable wholly to criminal justice while others have been split into equal shares. Analysed in the above manner the total receipts on the criminal and civil side will be as below:-

	Civil	Criminal
	Rs.	Rs.
IXB	1,22,51,290	..
XXI	19,61,846	57,32,417
Total	1,42,13,136	57,32,417

22. Allocation of expenditure.-

We shall now proceed to examine the heads of expenditure and try to analyse them so as to separate the cost related to the administration of civil justice. The budget shows the following items under the head "27 Administration of Justice":-

Expenditure

	27-Administration of Justice	Accounts 1953-54
		Rs.
1	High Court	18,80,383
2	Administrator General and Official Trustee	83643
3	Sheriff and Reporter, Bombay	94837
4	Official Assignee	1,54,033
5	Coroner's	39164
6	Presidency Magistrates' Courts	9,89,351
7	Civil and Sessions Courts	1,13,33,851
8	Courts of Small Causes	7,09531
9	Criminal Courts	37,24,099
10	Pleadership and Mukhtearship Examination Charges	..
11	Charge in England	..
12	Charge in connection with the Administration of the Bombay Agriculturists Debt Relief Act	6,98,847

Out of these items, the whole of items 2, 4, 6 and 12 are undeniably related to the civil side. An examination of the details of the remaining items gives us a fair indication of the part of the expense which relates to the civil judicial administration. Taking item 1, for example, part of it includes charges relating to the maintenance of the Original Side of the High Court. Leaving out the salaries of the Judges with which we shall deal separately, such items as relate to the Prothonotary and Senior Master, Translator, Commissioner for taking accounts, Taxing Master, and the Insolvency Registrar are clearly attributable to the civil side.

In the case of the salaries of Judges, we have divided it in the ratio of 2:1 between the civil and the criminal side. In support of this division it may be stated that in the Report on the Administration of Justice prepared every year by the High Court itself, we find it so apportioned between the Civil and the Criminal Side. In High Courts which have an original side, more Judge-days appear to be spent on the civil side than on the criminal. In other High Courts, the time spent on the two sides is almost equal.

In the case of such items as the Sheriff and the Reporters on the Appellate Side and the Accounts Section, an equal division has been made. We have set out these details to make it clear that it is possible to effect a fairly reasonable allocation of the charges between the civil and criminal side of the administration of justice, even from the broad details found in the budget statements.

Item 6 "Presidency Magistrates' Courts" and item 9 "Criminal Courts" are obviously items which fall on the criminal side. One of the important items is item 7, "Civil and Sessions Courts". This item is made up of several sub-items such as Bombay City Civil and Sessions Judges, District and Sessions Judges, Civil Judges and Process serving establishment. The last two items relate only to the civil side. A difficulty however arises in dealing with items 1 and 2, as the officers and the establishment referred to therein are required to do both civil and criminal work. We can in the circumstances make only an arbitrary division.

Though we have divided these amounts in equal shares, it is our view that Civil and Sessions Judges or District and Sessions Judges in fact devote more of their time to the trial of sessions cases than to the disposal of civil work. In fact, the present heavy accumulation of arrears of civil work is mainly due to the fact that District and Sessions Judges are unable to find the time required for disposal of civil work.

23. Final analysis.-

Analysed in the above manner the charges become divisible between the civil and criminal side as follows:-

Charges

	Civil	Criminal	Total
	Rs.	Rs.	Rs.
High Courts	14,04,541	4,75,781	18,80,322
Administrator General and Official Trustee	83643	83643
Sheriff and Reporter	47419	47419	94838
Official Assignee	1,54,033	1,54,033
Coroner's Court	..	39164	39164
Presidency Magistrates Courts	..	9,89,351	9,89,351
Courts of Small Causes	7,09,531	..	7,09,531
Civil and Sessions Courts	92,88,494	20,45,358	1,13,33,852
Criminal Courts	..	37,24,099	37,24,099
Charges in connection with the administration of Bombay
Agrictilturists' Debt Relief Act	6,98,847	.. 6,98,847
Total	1,23,86,508	73,21,172	1,97,01,680

The resulting final figures relating to the Civil Judicial Administration are therefore as follows:

Receipts	Charges
1,42,73,136	1,23,86,508

The result accordingly is that there is a surplus of about 18 lacs to the credit of civil judicial administration. We must emphasise that obviously absolute accuracy cannot be claimed for figures arrived at in this manner. We feel, however, that we have made a fair apportionment of the charges on the basis of the information available in the budget statement.