Delhi HC asks authorities to decide representation on increasing pecuniary jurisdiction of civil courts

The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the authorities to consider a representation seeking to increase the pecuniary jurisdiction of civil courts here on the grounds that it would reduce the burden of cases before district courts.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh said the issue will be looked into by the administrative side of the high court and will be placed before a committee of this court.

The court was hearing a petition by advocate Amit Sahni who submitted that the present pecuniary limit of Rs 3 lakh is very meagre for civil courts, which consequently results in a large number of cases being filed before district courts that have a “much wider jurisdiction of Rs 3 lakh to finally up to Rs 2 crore”.

The bench said the representation be decided by the authorities as expeditiously as possible and practicable as per law.

“Good that you have brought this issue to the court. We will see it on the administrative side,” the bench said while granting liberty to the petitioner to approach the concerned tribunal or court in case of any grievance.

The petitioner has emphasized that the pecuniary jurisdiction of the high court was increased from Rs 25,000 in 1970 to above Rs 2 crore in 2015 and the pecuniary jurisdiction of the district court was increased from up to Rs 20 lakh in 2003 to up to Rs 2 crore in 2018; yet, for the civil courts, it has remained stagnant.

The pecuniary jurisdiction of civil courts needs to be increased so that the stagnation faced by the civil judges and burden of cases upon District Judges or Additional District Judges can be resolved, the plea said.

“The pecuniary value of Rs 3 lakh entrusted to civil judges of Delhi District Courts is on the extremely lower side and no property in Delhi is worth ‘3 lakh’ and the same has led to stern stagnation as civil judges of Delhi District Courts are adjudicating injunction suits and petty suit for recovery amounting up to 3 lakh only,” it said.

“The issue involved in the petition is in the larger public interest as it would not only reduce the stress of District Judges or Additional District Judges but the same would also provide the remedy of appeal (in the enhanced jurisdictional bracket) to the aggrieved party at the district court level”, it said.

Sahni said he had given a representation to the administrative side of the high court and the Delhi government in August but it was not decided after which he approached the court.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)