Hierarchy of Courts in India Shefali Tiwari BASICS OF LAW Tue, Jan 28, 2020, at ,11:32 AM Hierarchy of Indian Courts Hierarchy of Indian Courts SUPREME COURT OF INDIA The Supreme Court is the highest and final court of appeal under the Constitution of India. It is the highest constitutional court. Article 124 in The Constitution deals with the establishment and constitution of Supreme Court. JURISDICTION OF SC SOME IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT SC- The first CJI Harilal Jekisundas Kania( 26.01.1950 TO 06.11.1951) The present CJI is Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde and is the 47th CJI since 26 January 1950. HIGH COURT There shall be a High Court in each State [Art. 214]. The High Court has the power to establish a common High Court for two or more States. The High Court stands at the head of the Judiciary in the State. NUMBER OF JUDGES: The number of judges of the high court has not been fixed by the constitution, but it has been left to the discretion of the President. QUALIFICATION OF THE JUDGES: (1) He must be a citizen of India.(2) Must have held a judicial officer for 10 years in the territory of India.(3) Must have been an advocate for at least 10 years in one or more High court. Appointment, Retirement and Removal of Judges of High Courts Articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution of India deal with the appointment of Supreme Court and High Court Judges respectively. Please see the discussion in Chapter III on this topic. Appeals can be made from the District Court to the High Court. JURISDICTION OF HIGH COURTS Constitution of Criminal Courts (Section 9) – Court of Session- S. 9 of the CrPC talks about the establishment of the Sessions Court. Sessions Court. The State Government establishes the Sessions Court which has to be presided by a Session Judge appointed by the High Court. The High Court appoints Additional as well as Assistant Sessions Judges. According to section 10 (Subordination of Assistant Sessions Judges) of the CrPC, the assistant sessions judges are answerable to the sessions judge. The Additional/ Assistant Sessions Judge- These are appointed by the High Court of a particular state. They are responsible for cases relating to murders, theft, dacoity, pick-pocketing and other such cases in case of absence of the Sessions Judge. (Section 11) – Courts of Judicial Magistrates (Section 8)– Metropolitan areas (Section 16) – Courts of Metropolitan Magistrates (Section 17) – Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Section 18) – Special Metropolitan Magistrates (Section 19) – Subordination of Metropolitan Magistrates (Section 11) – Courts of Judicial Magistrates[Courts of Judicial Magistrates of the first class and of the second class] (Section 12) – Chief Judicial Magistrate and Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, etc. (Section 13) – Special Judicial Magistrates (Section 20) – Executive Magistrates (Section 21) – Special Executive Magistrates HIERARCHY OF CIVIL COURTS DISTRICT COURTS District Courts and Add. District court in India deal with judicial matters at the District level. Headed by a judge, these courts are managed by the High Courts of the respective States to which the District belongs. The District Courts are subsidiary to their respective High Courts. All appeals related to civil matters from the District Courts lie to the High Court of the State. DISTRICT MUNSIFF COURT Munsiff Court is the lowest court of jurisdiction in India for handling the civil cases. An appeal from the judgements of the Munsiff court can be taken to the court of the sub-Judge or the Additional Sub-Judge, which are superior to the District Munsiff Courts are inferior to the District court. Usually, the Munsiff court is controlled by the District Court of the respective district. The District Munsif Court is allowed only to try matters pertaining to certain pecuniary limits notified by the State Government. LOWER COURTS In some states, there are some lower courts (below the District Courts) called MUNSIF'S COURTS and SMALL CAUSES COURTS. These courts only have original jurisdiction and can try suits up to a small amount. Thus, Presidency Small Causes Courts cannot entertain a suit in which the amount claimed exceeds Rs 2,000. However, in some states, civil courts have unlimited pecuniary jurisdiction. Judicial officers in these courts are appointed on the basis of their performance in competitive examinations held by the various States' Public Service Commissions. TRIBUNALS Revenue courts deal with cases of land revenue in the State. The highest revenue court in the district is the Board of Revenue. Under it are the Courts of Commissioners, Collectors, Tehsildars and Assistant Tehsildars. The Board of Revenue hears the final appeals against all the lower revenue courts under it. REVENUE COURTS Tribunal is a quasi-judicial institution that is set up to deal with problems such as resolving administrative or tax-related disputes. It performs a number of functions like adjudicating disputes, determining rights between contesting parties, making an administrative decision, reviewing an existing administrative decision and so forth. JURISDICTION OF FAMILY COURTS POWER/S OF FAMILY COURT:- Main goal of establishment of family courts is for secure and speedy settlement of disputes relating to marriage and family affairs. Matters like divorce, separation, maintenance, custody of children are usually dealt in family courts. Powers of family court include: they can make their own procedure for settling a case, they are not required to record the oral statement of the witness at length and appeal from family courts lies directly to the High Court. The family court has the power to make their own procedure.a They are not required to record the oral statement of the witness at length. The appeal from family courts lies directly to the High Court. The Family Court can receive any document or statement even if it is not admissible under Indian Evidence Act 1872. THE FAMILY COURT ACT, 1984 :- It is a progressive legislation. It contains 23 sections. Under the Act, Family Court have been established in some states. DUTY OF THE FAMILY COURT:- According to the 59th Law Commission Report, the Family Court mainly focuses upon conciliation or settlement of the dispute. If there is a possibility for settlement between parties in a case on their own, the family court should adjourn the proceedings of the case till the parties arrive at a settlement. FAMILY COURT