Come November and courts will be nearer to litigants

From November 1, Delhi’s district courts will undergo a major revamp, with 300 judges being transferred and posted in accordance with a notification breaking up the Capital into nine civil districts for jurisdiction purposes.

The step comes over a month after the inauguration of the Dwarka courts — the newest and the fifth district court of Delhi. It aims to provide easy access of courts to the litigants, enabling them to avoid travelling long distances to settle legal issues.

Only criminal courts were so far divided according to areas. Most civil courts, including probate courts, rent control and matrimonial courts, were situated in the Tis Hazari courts complex. Similarly, most labour courts were in the Karkardooma court complex in east Delhi.

The litigants battling civil suits, hence, had to travel from all corners of the city to Tis Hazari, while labour unions and companies had to head for Karkardooma.

With the notification coming to effect from November 1, there will be separate civil courts for all nine districts.

To avoid any confusion among the litigants who have civil cases pending in Tis Hazari, the notification makes it clear that the courts of the additional district judge of the Central district will be in charge of all civil matters awaiting verdict. It means litigants involved in a civil suit or a matrimonial dispute will have to go to the same court where their cases have been pending and they will not be affected by the notification.

All fresh cases will be filed according to their territorial jurisdiction from November 1.

There will be nine district judges in the five court complexes, looking after district-wise distribution of works. The court of West district judge will, however, remain at Tis Hazari till further orders.

Nine courts have been earmarked as fast-track courts to deal with criminal cases pending for at least seven years now, according to the notification. There will, however, be only one court of the chief metropolitan magistrate, who will sit at Tis Hazari and will be assisted by additional chief metropolitan magistrates sitting in different courts.

The judicial officers at Tis Hazari have been allocated three districts — Central, North and West. There will be 52 judges from the Delhi Higher Judicial Service and 62 judicial officers of the Delhi Judicial Service, ranked as magistrates and civil judges, functioning in these new courts.

The New Delhi and South districts will be dealt with at the Patiala House courts. As many as 21 judges from higher judiciary and 18 from the lower bench will look after cases.

While Rohini courts will settle disputes of the North-West district with 12 senior and 18 junior judges, Karkardooma courts will have in its jurisdiction East and North-East districts with 37 higher judiciary members and 25 subordinate officers, reads the circular.

Dwarka courts, which became operational on September 8, will have 12 senior judges and 23 lower judicial officers to decide cases pertaining to the South-West district.