In Yashpal Jain v. Sushila Devi and Ors., the issue concerned the right of the appellant to be brought on record as legal representative of the deceased plaintiff, which the Court allowed. More importantly, the Supreme Court issued certain general directions for speedy disposal of cases, including the following:
i. All courts at district and taluka levels shall ensure proper execution of the summons and in a time bound manner as prescribed under Order V Rule (2) of CPC and same shall be monitored by Principal District Judges and after collating the statistics, they shall forward the same to be placed before the committee constituted by the High Court for its consideration and monitoring.
ii. All courts at district and taluka level shall ensure that written statement is filed within the prescribed limit under Order VIII Rule 1 and assign reasons in writing as to why the time limit is being extended beyond 30 days.
iii. All courts at districts and talukas shall ensure that after the pleadings are complete, the parties should be called upon to appear on the day fixed as indicated in Order X and record the admissions and denials and at the option of the parties, shall fix the date of appearance. In the event of ADR not being fruitful, the trial would commence on the next day so fixed and would proceed on day-to-day basis.
iv. In the event of the party’s failure to opt for ADR, namely resolution of dispute as prescribed under Section 89(1), the court should frame the issues for its determination within one week preferably, in the open court.
v. Fixing of the date of trial shall be in consultation with the learned advocates appearing for the parties to enable them to adjust their calendar. Once the date of trial is fixed, the trial should proceed to the extent possible, on day-to-day basis.
vi. Trial judges shall maintain the diary for ensuring that only such number of cases as can be handled on any given day for trial so as to avoid overcrowding of the cases.
vii. The counsel representing the parties may be enlightened on the provisions of Order XI and Order XII so as to narrow down the scope of dispute and it would be also the onerous responsibility of the Bar Associations and Bar Councils to have periodical refresher courses, preferably by virtual mode.
viii. The trial courts shall, without fail, comply with the provisions of Rule 1 of Order XVII and once the trial has commenced it shall proceed day to day.
ix. The courts shall give meaningful effect to the provisions for payment of costs for ensuring that no adjournment is sought for procrastination of the litigation;
x. At conclusion of trial, the oral arguments shall be heard immediately and judgment be pronounced within the period stipulated under Order XX of CPC.
xi. The statistics relating to the cases pending in each court beyond 5 years shall be forwarded by every presiding officer to the Principal District Judge once in a month who shall forward it to the review committee constituted by the High Courts.
xii. The committee so constituted by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the respective States shall meet at least once in two months and direct such corrective measures to be taken by concerned court as deemed fit and shall also monitor the old cases (preferably which are pending for more than 5 years) constantly.
[S. Ravindra Bhat J., Aravind Kumar J.]
[Keywords : legal heir, legal representative, speedy disposal, delay in trial, summons, framing of issues, day to day hearing, Review Committee]
Source: Barandbench
