District Courts of India
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Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The District Courts (Hindi: जिला न्यायालय) of India are the district courts of the State governments in India for every district or for one or more districts together taking into account the number of cases, population distribution in the district. They administer justice in India at a district level. These courts are under administrative control of the High Court of the State to which the district concerned belongs. The decisions of District court is subject to the appellate jurisdiction of the High court.[1]
Contents
Composition of District courts
The highest court in each district is that of the District and Sessions Judge. This is the principal court of original civil jurisdiction besides High Court of the State and which derives its jurisdiction in civil matters primarily from the code of civil procedure. The district court is also a court of Sessions when it exercises its jurisdiction on criminal matters under Code of Criminal procedure. The district court is presided over by one District Judge appointed by the state Government. In addition to the district judge there may be number of Additional District Judges and Assistant District Judges depending on the workload. The Additional District Judge and the court presided have equivalent jurisdiction as the District Judge and his district court.[2]
However, the district judge has supervisory control over Additional and Assistant District Judges, including decisions on allocation of work among them. The District and Sessions judge is often referred to as "district judge" when he presides over civil matters and "sessions judge" when he presides over criminal matters.[3] Being the highest judge at district level, the District Judge also enjoys the power to manage the state funds allocated for the development of judiciary in the district.
The district judge is also called "Metropolitan session judge" when he is presiding over a district court in a city which is designated "Metropolitan area" by the state Government. Other courts subordinated to district court in the Metropolitan area are also referred to with "metropolitan" prefixed to the usual designation. An area is designated a metropolitan area by the concerned state Government if population of the area exceeds one million or more than that.[4]
Appointment and removal
The judges of subordinate courts are appointed by the Governor in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court of the concerned State. A minimum of seven years of practise as a lawyer at bar is a necessary qualification. Upon a written examination and oral interview by a committee of High court judges, the appointment of district judges is notified by the state Government. This is referred to as direct recruitment. District judges are also appointed by way of elevation of judges from courts subordinate to district courts provided they fulfill the minimum years of service.
The next level of ascendancy for a district judge who served sufficient number of years is the post of High court judge. High court Judges are usually appointed from a pool of advocates practising at the Bar of the High court and District Judges who served for sufficient number of years.
A district judge or Additional judge may be removed from his office by the state Government in consultation with the High court. By virtue of his office a district judge often occupies privileged position in the district alongside administrative heads of the district like the collector.
Jurisdiction
The District Court or Additional District court exercises jurisdiction both on original side and appellate side in civil and criminal matters arising in the District. The territorial and pecuniary jurisdiction in civil matters is usually set in concerned state enactments on the subject of civil courts. On the criminal side, jurisdiction is exclusively derived from the criminal procedure code. As per this code the maximum sentence a Sessions Judge of district court may award to a convict is capital punishment.
The district court has appellate jurisdiction over all subordinate courts situated in the district on both civil and criminal matters. Subordinate courts, on the civil side (in ascending order) are, Junior Civil Judge Court, Principal Junior Civil Judge Court, Senior Civil Judge Court (also called sub-court). Subordinate courts, on the criminal side (in ascending order) are, Second Class Judicial Magistrate Court, First Class Judicial Magistrate Court, Chief Judicial Magistrate Court.
Certain matters on criminal side or civil side cannot be tried by a lesser court than a district court. This gives the District Court original jurisdiction in such matters.
Appeals from the district courts lie to the High Court of the concerned state.
State-wise District Courts
The district courts of India are listed in List of district courts of India
See also
References
- ↑ Check Court Judgements (JUDIS) Government of India website.
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