Kerala Civil Courts Act| District Judge Can't Pass Judicial Orders Directing Subordinate Courts To Dispose Matters Expeditiously U/S.17: High Court

The Kerala High Court has recently established that the general supervisory power available under Section 17 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act does not empower the District Judge to pass judicial orders directing the civil courts in the district to dispose of matters pending before the subordinate courts in a time-bound manner. 

Justice A. Badharudeen held that the general control over all the civil courts given to the District Judge within the District is confined to matters of administration and not strictly on the judicial side to pass orders of such nature.

"...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." 

A District Judge passed an order allowing an application filed by the petitioner, whereby the Munsiff Court was directed to dispose of petitions pending before the trial court.

The District Judge observed that in view of the wide scope and spectrum of the powers available under Section 17, the District Court could pass an order directing the trial court to dispose of the petition at the earliest. 

Advocates B. Premnath and Sarath M.S appearing for the petitioner submitted that 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.

The Court noted that the impugned order appears to have been passed with an emphasis on Section 17 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act. 

A report from the concerned District Judge was called for, but the same failed to justify this judicial power that he exercised under Section 17. However, he submitted that he had ordered the same with bona fides.

In this context, it was found relevant to note that the enactment of the Civil Courts Act is generally intended to deal with the functioning of the subordinate courts.

The general control over all the civil courts given to the District Judge within the District is mostly confined to matters of administration and not strictly on the judicial side to pass orders of the nature impugned, the High Court held. 

It was held that by invoking the power under Section 17, 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.

It was added that the power of general control is confined only to matters of administration.

Therefore, the order impugned was set aside and the Original Petition was accordingly allowed. The Registry was directed to forward copies of this judgment to all District Judges, for information and future guidance.

Case Title: Sobhana v. President & Anr.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 204

Click Here To Read/Download The Order