# signing of order sheets as a matter of course, should be avoided as far as possible

- **Citation:** C.L. No. 61/VIII
- **Court:** Allahabad High Court
- **Decided:** 1965-08-31
- **Case number:** C.L. No. 61/VIII
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/allahabad-high-court/signing-of-order-sheets-as-a-matter-of-course-should-be-avoided-as-far-as-163176
- **Pages:** 3

## Text

164
about expeditious and smooth disposal of work if the Presiding Officer cannot
maintain proper control over his diary, staff and proceedings in court. He should
understand a case thoroughly before he proceeds to try it so that he may be in a
position to appreciate evidence as it proceeds. Avoidable adjournments, recording
of evidence piecemeal, long dates for arguments or for delivery of judgment and
signing of order sheets as a matter of course, should be avoided as far as possible.
There should be strictness in granting adjournments and time for making up
deficiency in court fees, deposit of process-fees and taking of other steps. Greater
use should also be made by courts of the provisions of order X of the Code of
Civil Procedure‖.
Orders should be passed on miscellaneous applications in open court either on the
day on which they are filed or on the following day before taking up regular casework.
The court also expects Presiding Officers to pay greater attention to execution cases and
to devote adequate time for the same.
C.L. No. 61/VIII h-13 dated 29th May, 1972

In the interests of proper administration of justice it should be ensure that no
harassment is caused to the litigants on account of any mistake or error on the part of the
court staff or the process- servers. Notices should be issued in all cases and an attempt
should be made to affect service promptly. The cases should be undated only after the
issues have been framed. In cases where dates are fixed for appearance or for filing
written statement, personal interest should be taken. Proper use of rules 1 and 2 of order
X, C.P.C. should be made and pleadings must be cleared up at the first hearing. There
should be no frequent adjournments. In cases which are to be adjourned, orders should be
passed in the early part of the day. There should be effective control over process serving
staff. Dates should be given by the Presiding Officers themselves and be not left to the
readers. Provisions of rule 82 read with rule 401 of General Rules (Civil) should be
strictly followed and no case the readers should be allowed to handle files for fixing
dates.
C.L. No. 4 dated 3rd February, 1976

The court is trying to improve the service and living conditions of judicial officers
in many and far-reaching ways. At the same time it has become imperative that the
judicial officers should also galvanise themselves, adopt a more positive attitude to their
work and be efficient to acquire real grip and command over their work.

The nation honours judicial officers through the convention of calling them
learned-learned Munsif, learned Magistrate, learned Judge. The High Court now requires
each officer to justify the appellation and in fact be learned and capable. To this end, the
following suggestions are made for compliance:-
(1) Every officer must be punctual. He should be in his chair in the court room at
the stroke of 10.30 a.m. and 2 p.m. That will go a long way in sustaining the
good image of the judiciary among the litigants. It will induce lawyers also to
be punctual. Every officer is hereby directed to send his daily sitting register
to the District Judge so that as to reach him latest by 10.35 a.m. each day for
his information and initials, else he will be treated and marked absent for the
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day. The District Judge is the head of the District judiciary. He is the boss.
There should be no sense of embarrassment in sending the register daily to
him instead of once a month.
(2) The officers should read Order XI Civil Procedure Code and realise the
difference between a party trying to know the nature of his opponent's case
and a party trying to know the facts which constitute the evidence of his
opponent's case. The parties should be encouraged to utilise the provisions of
Order XI. These provisions immensely cut short the oral evidence, thus
saving the time taken in disposal of a case. The disposal of the officers will
improve.
(3) There is a growing tendency to remand civil appeals at the slightest pretext.
The High Court takes a serious view of unnecessary remand of suits. The
officers should study the provisions in Order 41, Civil Procedure Code for
taking additional evidence and remitting an issue. They should be aware that
remand is not a substitute for these two. A remand increases the life of
litigation by several years, which is a serious matter. The Circular Letters No.
63, dated August 31, 1965, may again be circulated amongst the officers.
(4) Issuance of injunctions indiscriminately has ―virtually brought the judiciary
into disrepute. The High Court issued General Letter No. 3323/267, dated
25th July, 1925. It made strong observation in A.I.R. 1926 Allahabad
406(408). You may get a copy of the aforesaid General Letter and the
observations beginning with the paragraph-
―I regret to say that I am compelled to draw the attention of the learned
Judge...‖ at page 408 typed out and a copy given to each officer in your
judgeship for guidance.
An injunction should not be granted ex parte so as to last for a period of more
than 15 days, in the first instance. It should be liable to be extended by a fresh
order. This way the plaintiff will remain under the control of the court, rather
than employ delaying tactics.
(5) Every officer must maintain a digest of decided cases. A loose-leaf register
should be taken. The digest should be subject-wise and contain short notes of
all cases on civil, criminal and constitutional law, decided by the Supreme
Court and the Allahabad High Court. It should also include full Bench
decisions of other High Courts. The law point decided in a case can be noted
from the head note. The judgment should however, be read in extensor not for
the law it contains but for the sound of law it makes. Each jurisdiction, like
civil, criminal, Constitutional or industrial, has its own vocabulary. The
officer should familiarise himself with the language of the law. Phrases
peculiar to such jurisdictions of which appeal, should be noted in the digest
so that they can be used to embellish the judgment of the officer. This way
the officer will not only acquire ability but by displaying it even in court, will
get greater respect from the Bar. He will be able to write better judgments, by
which his ability is evaluated by the High Court.
166
C.L. No. 13 dated 22nd January, 1977

To expedite information about the decision of cases in the Court it has now been
decided that an intimation about the disposal of a case be sent as soon after disposal of a
case as possible. If the record along with the copy of judgment is not received by the
District Judge within a month of the receipt of information about the disposal of the case,
he may write to the Registrar demi- officially in the matter.
Shunning frequent adjournments
C. L. No-35/2007: Admin 'G' Dated: 29 August, 2007.
With exalted aim of bringing perceptible improvement in administration of Civil
Justice System the Hon'ble court has viewed with serious concern the practice of
granting frequent adjournments on insignificant grounds by subordinate courts and has
desired suitable instructions to be issued urging them to avoid frequent adjournments.
Therefore,
In
continuation
of
the
marginally quoted Circular Letters and
General letter, I am directed to say that in
a bid to ameliorate the Civil Justice
System adjournments be avoided to be
given on baseless flimsy grounds by the court.
I am therefore to request you to kindly bring the contents of the Circular Letter to
the notice of all the Judicial Officers working under your supervisory control with an
instruction to make strict compliance to the same in letter and spirit.
8.
EXPEDITIOUS DISPOSAL OF CASES
C.L. No. 65 dated 31st October, 1962
In order to avoid accumulation of old cases, the tendency of leaving such cases as
are of complicated nature involving lengthy arguments, recalcitrant witnesses,
voluminous documents and intricate law points and taking up only such cases as are short
and convenient for heavy disposal should be deprecated. The Court would like to impress
upon the officers that while passing remarks on their outturn these facts are also taken
into account and consideration is given to disposal of old and complicated cases.
The Court has, after due consideration of all aspects of the question, decided that
the following procedure should be followed by all concerned:
(1)
Presiding Officers should make concentrated efforts to reduce the arrears in
all categories of cases as soon as possible.
(2)
Officers should be instructed by the District Judge to do their proper share of
work and follow the instructions given by him.
(3)
Cases should be taken to be ̳old' according to the following time schedule:-
(a)
Regular suits in Munsifs and Civil Judges Courts- More than a year
old.
(b)
Small Cause Suits-More than three months old.
(c)
Regular Civil and Revenue Appeals-More than six months old.
1- C.L. No. 22/VIII-b-13 dated 28th March, 1949
and C.L. No. 61/VIII-h-13 dated 29th May, 1972
2- Letter No. 2586/ 2004 dated Feb. 19th, 2004