Brief of Trial court Internship (November 26- December 26 2012)

Internship at Trial court, Bhopal, M.P.

BRIEF ABOUT COURTS VISITED

District court is the base without which superior judiciary can not stand. It is the court of original jurisdiction. No one except in case of breach of fundamental rights can directly approach high court and Supreme court without approaching the District and Session court. In High courts and supreme court both the civil and criminal cases  are heard. The structure of Lower judiciary in Indian judicial system hierarchy is divided into two parts one is District court which deals with civil cases and the other is Session court which deals with criminal cases. This difference is more for theoretical understanding of the Heirarchy, though  in reality the judges for both district and session can be same. The District Courts are at the top of all the subordinate or lower courts. They are however under the administrative control of the High Court of the State to which the district court belongs to. Their jurisdiction is confined to the districts they are responsible for, which could be just one or more than one. The original jurisdiction of the District Courts in civil matters is confined by not just the territorial limitations, but by pecuniary limitations as well. The pecuniary limitations are laid down by the legislature and if the amount in dispute in a matter is way above the pecuniary jurisdiction of the District Court, then the matter will be heard by the concerned High Court of that State. In case of criminal matters, the jurisdiction of the courts is laid down by the legislature. The decisions of the District Courts are of course subject to the appellate jurisdiction of the High Courts. Apart from these judicial bodies who enforce the laws and rules laid down by the legislature and executive and also interpret them (the Supreme Court & High Courts), there are numerous quasi judicial bodies who are involved in dispute resolutions. These quasi judicial bodies are the Tribunals and Regulators.

I have visited the following courts:-

DISTRICT AND SESSION COURTS:-

There are 65 Judges in the District court of Bhopal, dealing with cases relating to all areas.

Civil matters are dealt by District courts and criminal matters are dealt by Session court. But in The District and session court of Bhopal same judge is appointed for both civil and criminal matters or it can also be separated. It is situated in M.P.Nagar, Bhopal. It is Asia’s largest and the best district court.  It has jurisdiction to deal with cases occurring within the boundaries of Bhopal district. Appointment to the post of district judge is made by the governor of the state in consultation with the High Court of competent jurisdiction in relation with the state. Only a person who has been in the state judicial service or has been an advocate or pleader for not less than seven years can be elevated to this post. Presently Mrs. Sushma khosla is District and session judge of Bhopal. These two courts are considered subordinate in the hierarchy of Indian judicial system.

There is a pecking order of district level courts or subordinate courts under the High Court of Madhya pradesh. The District Courts or the Subordinate Court judges are generally termed as Subordinate Judicial Service. The state is divided into many judicial districts which are presided over by sessions or district judges who exercise the highest judicial authority in a district and can even try all kind of offences including those punishable by death. Thus the lower judiciary of Bhopal consists of-

  87 courts of District & Sessions Judges

 65 Judicial officers working as Civil Judges (Senior Division)as well as Chief Judicial Magistrates, Additional Civil Judges as well as Additional Chief Judicial Magistrates and Civil Judges (Junior Division) as well as Judicial Magistrates.

-FAMILY COURT:-

A family court is a court convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, such as custody of children. In common-law jurisdictions "family courts" are statutory creations primaril. dealing with equitable matters devolved from a court of inherent jurisdiction, such as a superior court. The Family courts were first established in the United States in 1910, when they were called domestic relations courts although the idea itself is much older. Any one can approach this court but it is advisable to come with a lawyer. The matrimony and divorce related cases are also dealt by Family court. The scope and jurisdiction of family court varies from state to state.

-FASTRACK COURT:-

Besides the traditional court system, a variety of special courts can be set up in the country. Right to speedy trial has been acknowledged to be a fundamental right by the
apex court and as such fast track courts for the same are set up in the country from time to time. Also, there are special courts that deal with legislation on terrorism. While theses courts discharge specialized functions, they also shoulder the burden the judiciary thus helping in reducing the backlog of cases. In a fast-track court, trials are heard frequently and not much longer period is granted in furtherance of date. Speedy trials helps in disposing off the cases fast and delivering timely justice. The purpose for which it is to be appointed is decided by State Government

-LOK ADALAT:-

The term means people’s court. This court has the authority to conduct trials and is presided over by a retired or a sitting judge. The Lok Adalat aims at prompt settlement of disputes relating to various public utility services such as hospital, post, transport, telegraph, water, power and so on. The order issued by the Adalats is unquestionable. Over the years Madhya pradesh has excelled in the disposal of cases with the help of Lok Adalats. It is organized once in a year or two years. This year it was established on 15^th December in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Judges in lok adalat interact with public as an ordinary person and there is no role of a lawyer in a Lok adalat. Parties are invited to go for a compromise or asked if the case can be disposed off. 

CONSUMER FORUM

For the protection of consumer rights, three tier quasi-judicial machinery has been set up at the National, State and District level to deal with the consumer disputes in the fields of defective goods deficient services, unfair trade practices, restrictive trade practices, overcharging by the traders and hazardous goods etc.   The Act applies to all goods and services and covers public, private, joint and co-operative sectors. The Madhya Pradesh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission was constituted in the year 1990, which consists of the President, who is or has been a Judge of a High Court and two other members, one of whom shall be a woman, with the qualifications as prescribed by Section 16 (1)(b) of the Act.  On 10.1.1990 Hon’ble Shri Justice Y.B. Suryavanshi, Chariman of the Arbitration Tribunal was appointed and given additional charge of the President of the Commission, who discharged his functions and duties till 31.3.1992.  Thereafter, Hon’ble  Shri Justice V.S.Kokje (Presently Governor of Himachal Pradesh) a sitting Judge of High Court was appointed and given additional charge.

National commission is situated in New Delhi, Bhopal is blessed with M.P. state consumer dispute redressal commission and a district forum.

-District consumer dispute redressal forum, Bhopal:-

Court of original jurisdiction and cases relating to Bhopal district can be filed here.

-M.P.State consumer dispute redressal commission:- The State Commission has got the administrative control over the District Forums. Appeals from the cases decided in district forum can be heard here.

NASOOL:-

The word Nasul is used for land owned by the local development authority for development purposes, according to the masterplan of the city. The authority either acquires or gets the land from the government. Therefore, Nazul land is situated within the municipal limits of the authority. The authority can either lease it or auction it in the open market to any institution or individual with the government’s consent. The government can also auction the property for developing a residential colony or educational institution. Every city has a land allotment committee that undertakes the work of auction and leasing of Nazul land. The disputes relating to such matters are tried in a separate Nasul court.

MP WAQF TRIBUNAL, BHOPAL:-

Apart from courts, there are various tribunals that form a part of the Indian judicial system. The legislature has been empowered by the constitution to provide by law
for adjudication or trial by tribunals of any disputes and offences
for various matters such as taxation, land reforms, industrial and labour
disputes et al. As per the latest position taken by the Supreme Court,
direct appeals from the tribunals lie to respective High Courts and
then to the apex court. MP Waqf tribunal is empowered to deal with cases relating to property involving one party as Muslim. Muslim property cases are dealt in waqf. Usually Urdu is being used as a language of communication, but all the documentary work is done on the basis of state language and in M.P. it is done in Hindi. It is not necessary to appoint a muslim lawyer for it, lawyer belonging to any other religion can also be appointed. It is just that a branch has been separated to deal with muslim property cases. Usually Muslim judge is appointed here, so as not to make him bias

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GENERAL OBSERVATION OF FUNCTIONING OF TRIAL COURT:-

Functioning of Trial Court Trail court is very important to be understood by a legal practitioner or an advocate, because it is the first court where a case is first filed and on the decision of the Trial court, then further appeal is made in higher courts. The plaint filed in the court is given to the defendant and are asked to appear before the court with a reply to the plaint. When the defendant comes and files the reply, proceedings of the case starts. In the proceedings proper system is used and respective courts arrives with the decision. In case if any of the party is not satisfied with the decision of the court then it can appeal for it in the higher court. File includes various forms, brief facts by the plaintiff along with the allegations and prayer to the court, reply to the allegations and prayer to cancel the case by the defendant, affidavits by both the parties, recording of the statements of the witnesses and their cross and re-examinations in civil suits. Now in the case of appeal new file is not formed, the statements recorded earlier are only relied upon in the higher court though the unsatisfied party presents the additional grounds in the appeal. This is generally observed in the civil suits.

The various forms such as Memo (VAKALATNAMA), Memorandum of Understanding (RAZINAMA), and Affidavit all are to be produced before the court, if any statement of witness is to produce before the court, it has to be testified and approved by the Oath Commissioner. The Supreme Court and the High Courts deal with both civil and criminal
cases but courts have been divided into two when it comes to the lower
judiciary- one dealing with civil cases and the other dealing with criminal
cases.

The criminal branch of lower judiciary is headed by a sessions court. As per the code of criminal procedure, a sessions court is to be established for every sessions
division (which is essentially a district or a group of districts) by
the state government. This is followed by Courts of judicial magistrates
of first class in non metropolitan areas (areas with a population of
less than one million) and courts of metropolitan magistrates in metropolitan
areas. Subordinate to them are courts of judicial magistrates of second
class. Sessions judge and assistant sessions judge are appointed to
sessions courts, the latter being subordinate to the former. Similarly,
in courts of judicial magistrates, additional judicial magistrates are
subordinate to the chief judicial magistrate. Every chief judicial magistrate
is subordinate to the session judge as per CrPC. A magistrate of second class may not pass a sentence exceeding imprisonment of one year. Similarly, a magistrate of first class may not pass a sentence of more than 3 years.
A session judge can pass an order of execution but the same has to be
necessarily confirmed by the concerned High Court. The civil branch of lower judiciary is headed by a district court. As is clear by the name itself a district court is to be established in each district according to the Civil procedure
Code. Other courts subordinate to the district courts are the sub-divisional
court and Munsiff’s court with the latter being subordinate to the
former.

EXPERIENCE DURING THE INTERNSHIP

The Trial court in reality is different from the court generally shown in the Movies. It seems more like a fish market, where every lawyer sits in the court premises on benches waiting for clients, depicting equality among all professionals. Senior and junior sitting on the same footing without any role of authority. It can be termed as people’s court in a true sense. In movies the job of lawyer is more similar to detectives which is a far cry from the reality. The job of a lawyer is only to assist a party in a suit regarding the proceeding and appear before judge on his behalf. Every Lawyer maintains a court diary, which proved handy and very useful as all the details of the case is entered in the diary with proper date and it’s petition number. It proves to be useful, as respective cases are recorded by the lawyer date wise and it saves time to think and search of the cases as per the present date. During my internship, I learned to maintain the lawyer’s diary, I learned how to take dates from the court from the registers. I myself has submitted an application of Non-appearance on behalf of my Sir before the Honorable judge. It was a learning experience as Juniors take one year for learning the court proceedings which I could learn during the period of Internship. Though One month was not sufficient but it was enough to learn about the basics. And to gain mastery we have to start with the basics. Basics can be learned only in Trial court. I have learned the Basics of Drafting. I could get to know about fasttrack court and Lok adalat which is an emerging concept. I met the Managing director of M.P.Police housing corporation. I really tried hard to Learn. It was adventurous for me as everything was unpredictable. Every Client comes with a new case, new situation, a new problem and which doesn’t have any perfect answer. I also experienced the expressions and thoughts of the Honorable Judges. When they are in a good mood, they will tell you how to do the things correctly but if not then they will scold you for the simple mistakes you have done. About Advocates I experienced that it is not easy to work as an advocate, it requires a lot of dedication and hard work, only then you can achieve success, and most importantly social recognition.

I was strictly advised to come in formal dress. every other lawyer was wearing court uniform to appear before the court.

This was a common practice among all advocates to never come on time and keep their clients waiting before the court. They also would never present W.S. (Written Statement) before the court on time, and also the witness on time, and then ask the court to issue a further date for next hearing. It was a little difficult to work in the court because all the work was done in Hindi and name of the writs and provisions, all the documents were in Hindi. In the office I learned all the official work, filling TALWANA, VAKALTNAMA etc. All these documents are very important and an advocate must know how to fill them and use them, TALWANA is used for many things such as for issuing Attach Warrant, issuing notices etc.

I also learned that it is very important to be always reading cases and new

enactments, keep yourself always sound-minded, and while dealing with a case read the facts of the case very carefully and try to find all the loopholes and then use them in your favour, also while cross questioning with the witness never allow him/her to be confident ask them twisted questions so that they become nervous and are not able to answer properly.

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