Whether District Judge has power to pass judicial orders directing subordinate courts to dispose of matters expeditiously?

In this context, it is relevant to note that the enactment

of the Civil Courts Act is generally intended to deal with the

functioning of the subordinate courts and the general control over all the civil courts given to the District Judge within the District, is confined in matters of administration and not strictly on judicial side to pass orders of the nature impugned. To put it

differently, it has to be held that by invoking the power under

Section 17 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act, the District Judge has

no power to pass judicial orders of the nature impugned or any

other orders dehors the provisions of the substantive and

procedural law governing the field and the power of general

control is confined only in matters of administration. Therefore,

the order impugned is liable to be set aside. {Para 6}

 IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM

PRESENT

 MR. JUSTICE A. BADHARUDEEN

OP(C) NO. 375 OF 2022

SOBHANA Vs  B.PREMNATH (E) SARATH M.S

Dated this the 6th day of April, 2022

This is an Original Petition filed under Article 227of the

Constitution of India, challenging order dated 23.12.2021 in

I.A.No.1/2021 in I.A.No.1782/2021 in O.S.No.283/2018 by the

plaintiff in the above Suit arraying defendants as the respondents

herein. In this case, though notice served to the other side,

nobody appeared.

2. An interesting, rather important question arises in this

petition is, whether the general supervisory power available to the

District Judge under Section 17 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act,

will be available to the District Judge to pass judicial orders

inclusive of one directing the civil courts in the district to dispose

of matters pending before the subordinate courts in a time bound

manner?

3. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner

that as per the common order passed by the learned District

Judge, Palakkad (First Additional District Judge in charge) as per

order dated 23.12.2021 in I.A.No.1/2021 in I.A.No.1782/2021

filed by the plaintiff was allowed and thereby the learned District

Judge directed the Munsiff Court to dispose of petitions pending

before the trial court. According to the learned counsel for the

petitioner, the said power is not available to the District Judge,

dehors the provisions of the procedural law, Code of Civil

Procedure as well as the Civil Rules of Practice. Going by the

impugned order, it appears that the said order was passed, after

giving emphasis to Section 17 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act.

For clarity, Section 17 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act, 1957 is

extracted hereunder:

"17. District Judge to control Civil Courts of district:-- Subject to

the other provisions of this Act and to the Rules for the time being in

force and prescribed by the High Court in this behalf, the general control over all the Civil Courts under this Act in any District is vested in the

District Judge."

4. The learned District Judge observed that in view of the

wide scope and spectrum of the above general control, the

District Court could pass an order directing the trial court to

dispose of the petition at the earliest.

5. Though a report from the Judge, who passed the order

was obtained, he could not justify the said judicial power that he

exercised under Section 17 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act. But

he submitted that he had ordered the same with bona fides.

6. In this context, it is relevant to note that the enactment

of the Civil Courts Act is generally intended to deal with the

functioning of the subordinate courts and the general control over

all the civil courts given to the District Judge within the District,

is confined in matters of administration and not strictly on

judicial side to pass orders of the nature impugned. To put it

differently, it has to be held that by invoking the power under

Section 17 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act, the District Judge has

no power to pass judicial orders of the nature impugned or any

other orders dehors the provisions of the substantive and

procedural law governing the field and the power of general

control is confined only in matters of administration. Therefore,

the order impugned is liable to be set aside.

7. This Original Petition accordingly stands allowed.

The impugned order stands set aside.

Registry is directed to forward copies of this judgment to all

District Judges, for information and future guidance.

Sd/-

(A. BADHARUDEEN, JUDGE)

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