In a writ petition under Article 227, the petitioner sought a direction for the expeditious disposal of a civil suit pending in a subordinate civil court. The single judge relied on a Division Bench precedent holding that such directions cannot generally be issued.
No direction was issued for the expeditious disposal of the suit.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
Court No. - 1
Case :- MATTERS UNDER ARTICLE 227 No. - 2425 of 2021
Petitioner :- Smt. Shanti Devi Respondent :- Balkrishna Mishra And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ram Prakash Patel
Hon'ble Rohit Ranjan Agarwal,J.
This writ petition has been filed with the following prayer:-
"issue a order or direction, directing to the Additional Civil Judge, Court no.10, Allahabad to decide the original suit no. 75 of 2018 (Balkrishna Mishra Versus Rajendra Pratap and 11 others) expeditiously if possible within a stipulated period fixed by this Hon'ble Court."
From the perusal of the record, it transpires that the prayer has been made for early disposal of Original Suit No. 75 of 2018 pending in the court of Additional Civil Judge, Court No.10, Allahabad.
The Division Bench of this Court in case of Ali Shad Usmani vs. Ali Isteba, 2015 (2) ADJ 250 (DB) has held that no direction can be issued to the sub-ordinate courts for deciding the suit within stipulated period. Relevant portion of the judgment is extracted hereasunder:-
"We are not inclined to issue a direction for the expeditious hearing of a Civil Suit which is pending before the Civil Judge (Junior Division), District-Azamgarh. It would be most inappropriate to Court to entertain a writ petition under Article 226 and/or under Article 227 of the Constitution simply for the purpose of expediting the hearing of a suit. Such orders, if granted, place a class of litigants, who move the court in a separate and preferential category whereas other cases which may be of similar or greater antiquity and urgency are left to be decided in the normal channel. Hence, any such direction may be issued with the greatest care and circumspection by the High Court otherwise the Civil Courts will be overburdened only with requests for expeditious disposal of suits, which have been expedited by the High Court. Most of the litigants cannot afford the expense of moving the High court and would not, therefore, be in a position to have the benefit of such an order.
Ultimately, it must be left to the judicious exercise of discretion of the concerned Court to determine whether a ground for urgency has been made out. We emphasize that there may be other cases such as involving
senior citizens, those who are differently abled or people suffering from a particular disablilty socio-economic or otherwise which may prime cause of urgent disposal. It is for the learned Trial Judge in each case to apply his or her mind and decide whether the hearing of the suit to be expedited.
For these reasons, we are not inclined to entertain the petition. The petition is, accordingly, dismissed. There shall be no order as to cost."
In view of the Division Bench judgment of this Court in the case of Ali Shad Usmani (supra), this Court declines to grant the relief as prayed for.
The writ petitions is dismissed .
Order Date :- 13.7.2021 Kushal
2 issues framed by the court
Whether a direction for expeditious disposal of a civil suit can be issued under Article 227 of the Constitution.
Whether the High Court has the discretion to direct subordinate courts to decide suits within a stipulated period.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Ali Shad Usmani vs. Ali IstebaExplained¶8
Ali Shad Usmani vs. Ali Isteba, 2015 (2) ADJ 250 (DB)
Smt. Shanti Devi
Balkrishna Mishra
Rohit Ranjan Agarwal
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
