Uday vs Vajuben

All these petitions are placed on Board by the Registry along with the report of the learned 2nd Additional Senior Civil Judge and ACJM, Surat dtd.30/3/2010 requesting to extend the time for a further period of 18 months to finally decide and dispose of the Special Civil Suit No. 415 to 419 of 2002.

At the outset, it is to be noted that as such this Court vide order dtd.13/1/2009 directed the learned trial court to decide and dispose of the respective suits as expeditiously as possible but not later than 31/3/2010 and from the report it appears that still the suits are at the stage of evidence. Along with the report, the learned trial court has not produced Rojkam of the respective suits so that who is at fault can be appreciated. Considering the report submitted by the learned trial court, this Court is not satisfied. No particulars are given with respect to the matters before him in which this Court has given mandate to him to dispose of the same as early as possible. Though more than one year and three months have passed, the suits which are of the year 2002, are not decided and disposed of by the trial court and still the learned trial court is asking extension of further 18 months time, which cannot be granted. It is to be noted that even the application for extension has been submitted on the last date of the time stipulated by this Court, which is highly depreciated. Time as prayed for cannot be granted. However, at the most six months time can be granted to the learned trial court to decide and dispose of the aforesaid suits.

Under the circumstances, the learned trial court is hereby granted further time upto 31/12/2010 to finally decide and dispose of the Special Civil Suit Nos.415 to 419 of 2002. No further time shall be granted. The learned Principal District Judge, Surat is hereby directed to see that the aforesaid suits are finally decided and disposed of by the trial court within the extended time as stated hereinabove.

Before parting with the present order, this Court is at pains to note that the orders passed by this Court directing the learned trial court to decide and dispose of the proceedings are by and large not complied with on one ground or the other and the trial court is blaming his predecessors. It is also found that invariably application/report for extension is sent on the last date and that too, without copy of the Rojkam and even the report does not disclose the detailed reasons for delay and/or for noncompliance of the directions issued by this Court.

Under the aforesaid circumstances, the Registry is directed to issue Circular to all the learned Principal District and Sessions Judges, informing that as and when any direction is issued by the High Court to the lower judiciary to decide and dispose of proceedings/suit/application Ex.5 etc within stipulated time, the District Court must prepare and maintain a separate Register for the same containing the directions issued by this Court and the learned Principal District Judge to check the same and supervise and monitor the same every month regularly without fail and to see that the directions issued by this Court are complied with strictly.

Directions issued by this Court must be complied with by the courts below in toto, otherwise it would amount to insubordination on noncompliance of the order/direction issued by this Court. However, for any unavoidable reason or due to the circumstances beyond the control and/or due to the extraordinary circumstances, if the trial court is not in a position to decide and dispose of the proceedings within the time stipulated by this Court, in that case, the concerned Judge is required to send a report to the concerned Principal District and Sessions Judge one month advance along with the photocopy copy of the Rojkam, stating reasons for non-compliance of the direction issued by this Court and/or not disposing of the proceedings etc. within the time limit fixed by this Court and the concerned learned Principal District and Sessions Judge must forward report to this Court for extension of time along with application/report made by the trial court for extension of time with copy of the Rojkam, to this Court one month in advance from the last date of the time limit fixed by this Court.

As and when any direction is issued by this Court directing the learned trial court to decide and dispose of the proceedings/suit/application Ex.5 etc. within stipulated time, Registry to send the writ to the concerned learned Principal District and Sessions Judge also, so that as stated above, the concerned learned Principal District and Sessions Judge can supervise and monitor and see to it that the proceedings are disposed of within the time stipulated by this Court and in case of failure, necessary actions can be taken against the concerned Judge for non-compliance of the directions issued by this Court.

Registry is directed to issue necessary Circular to the aforesaid effect.

With this, present note stands disposed of.

[M.R.

SHAH, J.] rafik Top