Latest news with #CodeofCivilProcedure
India Today
2 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
How Karnataka plans to speed up disposal of piling civil cases
There are more than a million civil cases pending in various subordinate courts in Karnataka, many of them years old and some even dating back decades. To ensure speedy delivery of justice, the state government has amended the Code of Civil Procedure by stipulating that arguments in a civil case be closed within 24 months from the date of the first case management Code of Civil Procedure (Karnataka Amendment) Act, 2024, which was passed by the state legislature in December 2024, received the president of India's assent on May amendments are the first such among other states in the country, said Karnataka law minister H.K. Patil at a media conference on May 26, adding that these will apply to all civil cases in the subordinate courts, not including special courts.A key change pertains to the insertion of a new section (89A) under which every suit 'that does not contemplate any urgent interim relief' shall be referred to mediation. The mediation process will be allowed for a period of two months from the date of reference and may be extended by a further one-month with the consent of the parties. 'In the event a compromise is not arrived at within two months, the court will take the case up for hearing,' said other key amendment is the case management hearing under which timelines will be set for various stages of the trial. 'The court shall hold the first case management hearing not later than four weeks from the date of completion of pleadings in the suit. Pleadings are completed when the defendant files Written Statement and the suit is set for framing of issues,' according to the amended provisions were incorporated to 'strengthen the hands of the courts to decide the case in time', said case management hearing is a mechanism that currently exists in commercial courts, points out Shruthi Naik, who leads the justice, access and lowering delays in India (JALDI) team at the New Delhi-based non-profit Vidhi Centre for Legal cases that are listed go through the entire case proceedings as and when the court sets hearing dates. In the case management hearing, the court—after hearing the parties—fixes the dates on which it will take up different stages, such as recording of evidence of witnesses and oral arguments and sets the time limit for the completion of a trial.'It would be interesting to see how this works out for civil cases, again largely because of the workload,' says on May 28, Karnataka had a total 1.01 million pending civil cases, according to the National Judicial Data Grid dashboard. Of these, nearly a third were pending for 1-3 years, around 15 per cent were between five to 10 years and 3 per cent were over 10 years old. Of the pending civil cases, 285,974 were at the stage of witness says technological aids that can capture more details than the existing court information system will be useful for the courts in tracking the progress of cases. For instance, though the Code of Civil Procedure restricts the number of adjournments allowed in a trial, it is difficult to enforce this without granular data on party-wise technological aids and training will be necessary to strengthen the infrastructure for mediation, given that the number of pre-litigation mediation cases will now increase with the amendments coming into force. There are around 1,700 mediators in Karnataka.'It is a welcome step in order to relieve the burden of the judiciary, but we also need to make mediation effective for the bill to have the intended effect it was passed for,' says Naik. With the amendments, there is an opportunity to create new standard operating procedures that, depending on their success, other states could possibly to India Today Magazine
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
No apology, Delhi HC asks TMC MP why he should not be detained
Photo/Agencies NEW DELHI: Delhi high court issued a notice to TMC MP Saket Gokhale, asking him to explain why he should not be put into civil detention for "wilful non-compliance" with its order to publish an apology for defaming former diplomat Lakshmi Puri. Taking a strong view of Gokhale's failure to publish the apology even after the timeline fixed by the court had elapsed, a single bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora observed that he was mocking the court and its process, and issued a notice under Code of Civil Procedure. "According to me, he has to go to jail," the judge observed. HC granted one week to the Rajya Sabha member to respond to the notice. The matter will be heard on Sept 3.
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
AP High Court raps police for intervening in civil dispute cases
VIJAYAWADA: In a significant ruling, the High Court has sharply criticised police interference in civil disputes, particularly those related to land issues, stating that they have no authority to intervene in such matters. The HC clarified that civil disputes between individuals should be resolved through civil courts under the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) or through statutory bodies like the State Legal Services Authority, District Legal Services Authority, and Mandal Legal Services Authority. The court emphasised that police attempts to resolve civil disputes under initiatives like the Pre-Litigation Counselling Forum (PLCF) create confusion among parties and may escalate conflicts. The HC explicitly directed Visakhapatnam police to refrain from interfering in civil cases under any pretext. In a related case, 74-year-old S Shyamala from Visakhapatnam's Bay Colony approached the High Court, alleging harassment by the Visakhapatnam Commissioner of Police (CP), who repeatedly summoned her in connection with a civil land dispute. Shyamala sought court intervention to prevent police from pressuring her to resolve the dispute outside the legal framework.
Express Tribune
4 days ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
RDA blames ex-officers for Rs1.94b scam
The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has held a retired Director of Administration and Finance, a late Deputy Director of Finance, and a retired Assistant Director of Finance responsible for a mega financial scandal amounting to Rs1.94 billion. The authority has formally referred the matter to the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for action and recovery of losses. According to an official statement issued by the RDA Director-General, Kinza Murtaza, serious irregularities have been identified in the financial records of the authority, causing substantial loss to the public exchequer. The individuals allegedly involved include the retired Director of Admin and Finance, the late former DD of Finance, and the retired AD of Finance. The DG emphasised that recovering the financial losses resulting from this corruption is imperative. She noted that legal recovery of the amounts due is possible within the framework of the law, including through attachment and confiscation of properties and assets. Citing relevant legal provisions, she referenced section C-33 of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 for recovery of embezzled funds, sections 12 and 15 of the NAB Ordinance for freezing and confiscating assets, section 50 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) for recovery of civil liabilities from the estate of a deceased person, and Order XXII Rule 4 of the CPC to initiate legal proceedings against legal heirs after the death of an accused. Murtaza has formally written to the NAB Rawalpindi, FIA, and ACE Rawalpindi, urging swift recovery of the embezzled amount. Talking to The Express Tribune, sources revealed that senior officials, who served as DGs or Directors of Admin and Finance in the RDA over the past nine years, and who held signatory authority over financial matters, might also face action from NAB, FIA, and the ACE for failing to ensure transparency. Meanwhile, the official residence of the late DD Finance was sealed in Civil Lines in the nine-year-old mega corruption scandal in the Authority. Despite 236 suspicious transactions involving the RDA's National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) account, transfers were made to eight companies and 12 individuals and the RDA's financial discipline remained silent, the sources added. It is still to be determined which officials received vehicles in exchange for an Rs110m payment made to a car showroom. Separate payments of Rs175.7 million, Rs339.44m, Rs161.412m, Rs264.45m, Rs393.16m, and Rs74,25m were paid to several companies and individuals. Meanwhile, a probe committee appointed by the RDA DG says it is not currently in a position to identify the primary culprit behind the fraud.
New Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
President assents CCP Bill, mediation before hearings for swifter justice
BENGALURU: President Droupadi Murmu has given assent to the Code of Civil Procedure (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2024 (CCP Karnataka Amendment Bill, 2024), following which the State government issued a notification on Monday. With this, cases in various subordinate courts need to be disposed of in a fixed time-frame. Before a case is taken up for hearing, there will be a chance for mediation, for which two months' time is given. This is the first of its kind in India. Explaining the amendment, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil said the parties have to mandatorily make an attempt to resolve the case through mediation, within the given two months. Only if this doesn't work will the court take up the case. 'It is a historic law as it insists on completing proceedings within 24 months in civil courts. On day one of the trial or whenever the case is registered, the date of judgment will also be fixed,' he said. Patil appealed to the legal fraternity, including advocates, to cooperate. He said a timetable will be set till the case is disposed of. According to the minister, there are around 10 lakh pending cases in subordinate courts, most of which are land-related. Patil told reporters on Monday that the bill was passed in both Houses during the winter session in Belagavi last December, and later sent to the Governor. The Governor referred it to the President, who gave approval on May 19. 'This law will help in speedy disposal of cases in civil courts. They say justice delayed is justice denied. We have been talking about this for many years. Some cases are pending for 20 years,'' he said. Patil said his department is working on speedy disposal of cases. 'There should be less delay and social justice. Justice should not be a mirage or a costly affair. If people don't get justice on time, they would be spending more time and money. We wanted to give them relief,'' he said.
