The petitioner sought directions for the expeditious disposal of a civil suit for cancellation of sale deed, citing advanced age and ill health. The Court dismissed the petition, holding that directions for expedited disposal must be exercised sparingly in extraordinary circumstances and not routinely, to avoid prejudice to other litigants.
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.
Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:224312
Court No. - 44
Case :- MATTERS UNDER ARTICLE 227 No. - 11964 of 2023
Petitioner :- Ram Autar Respondent :- Parshuram And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Jitendra Kumar
Hon'ble Ashutosh Srivastava,J.
Heard Shri Jitendra Kumar , learned counsel for the petitioner.
Considering the nature of the order that is proposed to be passed the notice upon the respondents is being dispensed with.
The instant petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India has been instituted to direct the learned Civil Judge (Jr.Div.), Court No. 3 Kanpur Dehat to decide the Suit No. 501 of 2022 (Ramautar versus Smt. Mohini) expeditiously within a time frame fixed by the Court.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner is the real owner of Gata Nos. 275, 498, 548, 549 situated in Mauja Fatehpur Kudara Tehsil Metha, District Kanpur Dehat. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that when petitioner fell ill, defendant Nos. 2 and 3 admitted the petitioner in the hospital and when petitioner became senseless, defendant Nos. 2 and 3 by playing fraud, got sale deed executed of whole property. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits thereafter petitioner filed Civil suit No. 501 of 2022 before the Court below for cancellation of sale deed, which is pending consideration. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner is a Senior Citizen of 87 years of age and is suffering from various old age related disease. Learned counsel has invited the attention of this Court to the order sheet of the Suit Proceedings to demonstrate that the Trial Court is proceedings in a very slow pace and considering the plight of the petitioner and her old age the Suit Proceedings are liable to be expedited.
This Court has considered the submissions of the learned Counsel for the petitioner and has perused the records. From the perusal of the order sheet filed on record as Annexure -2 of the writ petition, it is borne out that the suit is pending at the stage of consideration of application under Section 6 C (2) .
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 hereunder:-
"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 disability 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."
An earlier Division Bench of this Court in the Case of Km. Shobha Bose V. Judge Small Causes & Ors. reported in 2011 (88) ALR 850 , has held that the power to direct expeditious disposal of Suit or any other Cases should be exercised sparingly in extra ordinary circumstances and not in a routine manner. Relevant portion of the judgment is extracted hereunder:-
"3. The prayer made in this petition for expeditious disposal of the suit/revision, in sum and substance, is nothing but a prayer for out of turn hearing of the suit. We are unaware of the docket of the Judge, Small Causes Court in seisin of the matter. We also do not know that suits of earlier years in which old ladies figure, are pending or not. However, it is common knowledge that thousands of cases instituted earlier by persons more aged than the petitioner are unfortunately pending in the Court. It is systemic delay. It is further common knowledge that direction of the nature, if granted, affects the working of the Court and the Judges, in seisin of such cases, remain ordinarily occupied with only those cases in which directions have been given for expeditious disposal and cases filed earlier gets ignored as those litigating from earlier years have no resources to approach this Court seeking expeditious disposal of the matter. It is further common knowledge that many of the Judges, because of sheer number of such directions, are unable to carry out these directions and subjected to contempt proceedings and even personally directed to appear in such proceedings. Such a prayer made in routine manner can not be granted without serious application of mind. It is high time that we must give serious thought to all these considerations before passing any order for expeditious disposal. We are not oblivion of the fact that this Court does possess power to direct early disposal of the case but as often said more the power greater the responsibility. We are of the opinion that power to direct expeditious disposal of suit or for that matter any lis which, in sum and substance, means out of turn disposal is to be exercised sparingly in extraordinary circumstances and not in a routine manner. It is fit to be exercised only when the Court comes to the
conclusion that delay would cause gross injustice. However, while deciding this issue, the Court would bear in mind that it does not cause injustice to other litigants, who are waiting for justice from before because the very nature of order delays cases filed earlier. It causes resentment and dissatisfaction to those who are waiting for justice from before. It should be exercised only when it comes to the notice of this Court that Judge in seisin of the case is purposely avoiding to dispose of the suit for any oblique motive, which may defeat the justice. An order for expeditious disposal in a routine manner can not be countenanced.
In view of the above, this Court is not inclined to grant the relief, as prayed for, at this stage.
With the above observations, the present petition is disposed of finally with liberty to the petitioner to move an appropriate application for expeditious disposal of the aforesaid pending case before the Court concerned and in case such an application is moved, the Court concerned shall pass appropriate orders within reasonable time.
Order Date :- 28.11.2023 Ravi Prakash
(Ashutosh Srivastava, J.)
Digitally signed by :- RAVI PRAKASH High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
1 issue framed by the court
Whether the High Court should issue directions to the subordinate court to decide a civil suit expeditiously within a fixed timeframe?
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Ali Shad Usmani vs. Ali IstebaRelied on¶11
Ali Shad Usmani vs. Ali Isteba, 2015 (2) ADJ 250 (DB)
Km. Shobha Bose V. Judge Small Causes & Ors.Relied on¶15
Km. Shobha Bose V. Judge Small Causes & Ors., 2011 (88) ALR 850
1 provisions across 1 enactments
Ram Autar
Parshuram
And 3 Others
Ashutosh Srivastava
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
