Calcutta High Court Amends Inspection Rules for Subordinate Courts (April 19, 2021)
THE KOLKATA GAZETTE
EXTRAORDINARY
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
REGISTERED NO. WB/SC – 32A NO. 429/2021
MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021
ISAKA 1943, CHAITRA 29
PART I
Orders and Notifications by the Governor of West Bengal, the High Court, Government Treasury, etc.
HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
APPELLATE SIDE
NOTIFICATION NO. 862-G
Calcutta, the 9th March, 2021
In exercise of the powers conferred by clauses (2) and (3) under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, and with the approval of the Governor of West Bengal, the High Court at Calcutta hereby makes the following amendments by way of substituting the extant rules in the following manner:
- Rules 979 to 990 of Chapter-49 of The Civil Rules and Orders of the High Court, Calcutta, Volume-I relating to “Inspection of Courts and Offices”; and
- Rules 459 to 475 of Chapter-XXVIII of The Calcutta High Court Criminal (Subordinate Courts) Rules, 1985 relating to “Inspections”.
The said Amendment Rules shall come into force with effect from 01.01.2016.
AMENDMENTS
A) INSPECTION OF COURTS AND OFFICES OF DISTRICTS BY THE HIGH COURT
The object of inspection of the courts and offices of the district by the High Court is to oversee, guide, and advise for running the administration of justice in the district in a proper manner and to solve the problems faced by the District Judges in running the administration of justice.
There may be three types of inspection to be undertaken by the High Court: (1) Regular Inspection, (2) Casual Inspection, and (3) Discreet Inspection.
1. Regular Inspection: Regular Inspection of the courts and offices in the district may be done by the High Court once in every two years in two different phases, with the prior approval of the Chief Justice, so that the schedule of inspection of one district does not clash with the schedule of inspection of another district.
1.1. First phase of inspection by the Registry: During the first phase, the Registrar (Inspection) will carry out the inspection with the assistance of the staff of the Inspection Department of the High Court on working days after consideration of the annual inspection report of the district by the High Court, i.e., after the 30th April of each year. This regular inspection is to be carried out by following the questionnaire given in Annexure-A.
1.2. Second phase of inspection by the Hon’ble Zonal Judge: The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will visit the district during the second phase on any working day immediately after completion of inspection by the Registry, on the basis of the questionnaire given in Annexure-A. If the inspection cannot be completed on one working day by the Hon’ble Zonal Judge, the same may be done continuously until completion of inspection of the entire district.
1.3. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will carry out the inspection with the assistance of the Registry by following the check list given in Annexure-B as far as practicable. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will give comments on completion of inspection in the format given in Annexure-C.
2. Casual Inspection: It would be ideal to undertake casual inspection at least once every year. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will visit the district accompanied by the Registrar (Inspection) on any working day with prior intimation to the Hon’ble Chief Justice. If the Hon’ble Zonal Judge is willing to visit the Sub-Divisions of the districts apart from District Headquarters, the inspection may be undertaken in the Sub-Divisions on different working days.
2.1. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will interact with the judicial officers in order to guide, advise, and educate them, so that qualitative and quantitative disposal of cases may be improved.
2.2. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will review the existing infrastructure including construction and repair of court buildings, facilities for drinking water and toilets for the litigant public, supply of power by generator during power cuts, availability of transport facilities to the judicial officers, arrangement of security for the judicial officers and the property of the court, etc.
2.3. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will examine whether the monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, and annual returns about institution, disposal, and pendency of cases are sent to the High Court within the prescribed period of time.
2.4. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will review the outturn of work of the judicial officers of the entire district, particularly 5-year-old pending cases of the last two quarters, and suggest remedies.
2.5. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will examine whether the Institution Register is maintained with a unique identification code by taking a daily printout of the institution of the cases from the Judicial Service Centre as per the provision of amended rules.
2.6. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will examine whether the cause list is generated from the server and the printout of the cause list is displayed in a conspicuous part of the courtroom at the prescribed hour on a regular basis.
2.7. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will review the work of the Copying Department to ascertain whether certified copies are promptly supplied within the specified period of time and whether copies are promptly supplied to the accused persons in sessions triable cases before commitment of the case to the court of sessions.
2.8. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will review the existing stock of books in the library to ascertain whether updated textbooks of important statutes and essential law journals are available.
2.9. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will examine whether orders and judgments passed by each court of the district are uploaded in the server promptly and whether data of all pending cases are already uploaded in the server.
2.10. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will review the vacancy of the judicial officers and court staff and suggest measures to fill up the vacancies and to increase the staff strength of the district, if necessary.
2.11. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will check the pendency of cases in each court and suggest whether there is a need for creation of any new court as per norms decided by the Full Court.
2.12. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will review the work of the District Legal Services Authority to ascertain how many pending cases have been disposed of by Lok Adalat and by way of mediation, and suggest remedies for improvement of the alternate dispute resolution mechanism of the district.
2.13. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will review the Minutes of the last two meetings of the Monitoring Committee and ascertain whether an effective role was played by the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police for the implementation of the decision of the Monitoring Committee.
2.14. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will review the Minutes of the last two meetings of the Committee to look after the infrastructure of the court to ascertain whether an effective role was played by the Executive Engineer of P.W.D. (Civil) and Executive Engineer of P.W.D. (Electrical) for the implementation of the decision of the Committee.
2.15. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge will inspect the Malkhana to ascertain whether property seized by the police is being disposed of promptly after passing of the judicial order by the court.
2.16. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge may review the pendency of petty criminal cases and suggest remedies for liquidating the arrears, insisting on the application of the provisions of “Plea Bargaining” as per Cr.P.C.
2.17. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge may hold a meeting with the District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police, Executive Engineer of P.W.D., and other public authorities for the solution of any problem faced by the District Judge or the Chief Judge, as the case may be.
2.18. The Hon’ble Zonal Judge may examine the total budget allocation of the previous year and the proposal of the budget submitted in the current year to ascertain whether the proposal for budgetary allocation of the current year was properly made, keeping in view the need for development of the infrastructure of the court.
2.19. The report of the casual inspection undertaken by the Hon’ble Zonal Judge is to be prepared within one month from the date of completion of inspection, and a copy of the same is to be given to the concerned District Judge or the Chief Judge, as the case may be, for necessary follow-up action.
3. Discreet Inspection: It would be just and proper for the Hon’ble Zonal Judge to undertake discreet and sudden visits to any court under his control and supervision, whether on receipt of any complaint or report from any source or otherwise. The discreet inspection may be undertaken on any date at any time, preferably without sacrificing judicial work as far as possible.
B) INSPECTION OF COURTS AND OFFICES BY DISTRICT JUDGE AND OTHER JUDICIAL OFFICERS
i) The District & Sessions Judge will inspect the Courts and Offices attached to him in the District Headquarters once every year within the month of December of the said year by following the questionnaire given in Annexure-D and Annexure-E.
ii) The Chief Judges will inspect the Courts and Offices attached to them once every year within the month of December of the said year. For such annual inspection, the Chief Judge, City Sessions Court, will follow the questionnaire given in Annexure-E, and other Chief Judges will follow the questionnaire given in Annexure-D.
iii) The Additional District and Sessions Judge and the Judges of the Special Courts will inspect the Courts and offices attached to them once every year by following the questionnaire given in Annexure-D and Annexure-E as far as practicable, within the month of December of the said year, and submit the report to the District and Sessions Judge or the Chief Judge, as the case may be, within the month of January of the next succeeding year.
iv) The Civil Judge (Senior Division) and the Civil Judge (Junior Division) will inspect the Courts and offices attached to them once every year by following the questionnaire given in Annexure-D as far as practicable within the month of December of the said year and submit the report to the District Judge or the Chief Judge, as the case may be, within the month of January of the next succeeding year. However, the Civil Judge (Sr. Division) having Sessions Power will also follow the questionnaire given in Annexure-E.
iv) (a) Officers shall ensure recording in the title page of a case record of the information whether the case relates to any senior citizen or not.
v) The Chief Judicial Magistrate, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, and the Senior Municipal Magistrate will inspect the courts and offices attached to them and the courts of Judicial Magistrate, Metropolitan Magistrates, and Municipal Magistrate, as the case may be, once every year by following the questionnaire given in Annexure-E as far as practicable within the month of December of the said year and submit the report to the Sessions Judge or the Chief Judge, as the case may be, within the month of January of the next succeeding year.
vi) The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, the Judicial Magistrate, the Metropolitan Magistrate, the Municipal Magistrate, and the Juvenile Justice Board will inspect the courts and offices attached to them once every year by following the questionnaire given in Annexure-E as far as practicable within the month of December of the said year and submit the report to the Chief Judicial Magistrate or the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or the Senior Municipal Magistrate, as the case may be, except the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate and the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate who will submit the report to the Sessions Judge or the Chief Judge, as the case may be, within the month of January of the next succeeding year.
vii) The District and Sessions Judge or the Chief Judge, as the case may be, will deal with the report of inspection of each court under his establishment and send an extract of the defects along with suggested remedies to the concerned court and to the High Court within the 15th day of March of the year next succeeding the year of inspection.
viii) The Registrar (Inspection) will deal with the note of inspection of each district and submit a detailed note highlighting the points where intervention of the High Court is required or where intervention of the State Government is required, and place the same before the Hon’ble Zonal Judge within the 30th April of the year next succeeding the year of inspection.
ix) The monthly, quarterly, and half-yearly statements of institution, pendency, and disposal of the cases with proper identification of 5-year-old cases of each class of the entire district will be uploaded directly on the website of the High Court by the District & Sessions Judge and the Chief Judge on or before the 15th day of the month next succeeding the period to which they relate. The annual statements of institution, pendency, and disposal of the cases with proper identification of 5-year-old cases of each class of the entire district will be uploaded on the website of the High Court by the District & Sessions Judge or the Chief Judge, as the case may be, on or before the 15th day of February of the next succeeding year. Pending finalization of the process of uploading the statement of return on the website of the High Court, the District & Sessions Judge and the Chief Judge will submit monthly, quarterly, and half-yearly statements to the High Court within the 15th day of the month next succeeding the period to which they relate, and the annual statement of the year within the 15th day of February of the year next succeeding the year to which they relate, by e-mail, so that the soft copy of the statement may be stored in the computer and the printout may be put up before the Hon’ble Zonal Judge by the Registrar (Inspection) within one month from the date of receiving the statement or 31st March of the year next succeeding the year to which they relate, whichever is earlier.
(The Annexures A through E, containing detailed questionnaires, are part of the official notification but are not reproduced in this polished copy due to their extensive length. They cover inspection protocols for Infrastructure, Judicial Administration, Nazarat Department, Accounts, Record Room, Copying Department, Stationery, Library, Computer Section, Legal Services, Police Office & Malkhana, Pending Files, and Miscellaneous matters.)
By Order of the High Court,
Sd/- (Prasenjit Biswas)
Registrar General,
High Court, Calcutta.
Published by the Controller of Printing and Stationery, West Bengal and printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Kadapara, Kolkata – 700 054.
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