Allahabad High Court
Ghufran Ahmad vs The Azamgarh Muslim Education Society ... on 19 September, 2019
Author: Vivek Varma
Bench: Vivek Varma
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 40 Case :- MATTERS UNDER ARTICLE 227 No. - 6787 of 2019 Petitioner :- Ghufran Ahmad Respondent :- The Azamgarh Muslim Education Society And 203 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Vidya Kant Shukla Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Vivek Varma,J.
By means of this writ petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, petitioner has prayed for a direction upon the Court below i.e. Civil Judge (SD)/FTC, Azamgarh to decide the Case No. 955 of 2016 (Ghufran Ahmad and othes Vs The Azamgarh Muslim Education Society Azamgarh and others) expeditiously, within a stipulated period as may be fixed by this Court.
It is contended by learned counsel for the petitioner that the plaintiff-petitioner has filed the aforesaid suit in the year 2016 , and, inspite of the best effort of the petitioner the said suit has not been decided by the court below in view of the dilatory tactics of the respondents-defendants, therefore, the petitioner has confined his prayer only to early disposal of the said suit.
It is trite that the Court under Article 227 of the Constitution, ordinarily, should not issue direction in a mechanical manner to expedite the suit, revision etc. This issue has been considered by a Division Bench of this Court in the case of Ali Shad Usmani and others v. Ali Isteba and others, 2015 (2) ADJ 250 (DB) which has observed as under:
"2. We are not inclined to issue a direction for the expeditious hearing of a Civil Suit which is pending before the Civil Judge (Junior Division), District-Azamgarh. It would be most inappropriate to Court to entertain a writ petition under Article 226 and/or under Article 227 of the Constitution simply for the purpose of expediting the hearing of a suit. Such orders, if granted, place a class of litigants, who move the Court in a separate and preferential category whereas other cases which may be of similar or greater antiquity and urgency are left to be decided in the normal channel. Hence, any such direction may be issued with the greatest care and circumspection by the High Court otherwise the Civil Courts will be overburdened only with requests for expeditious disposal of suits, which have been expedited by the High Court. Most of the litigants cannot afford the expense of moving the High Court and would not, therefore, be in a position to have the benefit of such an order.
3. Ultimately, it must be left to the judicious exercise of discretion of the concerned Court to determine whether a ground for urgency has been made out. We emphasize that there may be other cases such as involving senior citizens, those who are differently abled or people suffering from a particular disabililty socio-economic or otherwise which may prime cause of urgent disposal. It is for the learned Trial Judge in each case to apply his or her mind and decide whether the hearing of the suit to be expedited."
Again the Apex Court in Shiv Cotex v. Tirgun Auto Plast Pvt. Ltd. and others, (2011) 9 SCC 678 has made the following observation:-
"..........It is high time that courts become sensitive to delays in justice delivery system and realize that adjournments do dent the efficacy of judicial process and if this menace is not controlled adequately, the litigant public may lose faith in the system sooner than later. The courts, particularly, Trial Courts, must ensure that on every date of hearing, effective progress takes place in the suit."
Perused the record and the order sheet of the court below.
Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, and the submission made, but without prejudice to the merits of the case, the instant writ petition is finally disposed off with a direction to the court below to make every endeavour to decide the said suit expeditiously, by fixing short dates and without granting unnecessary adjournments to either of the parties, if there is no other legal impediments.
Order Date :- 19.9.2019 RavindraKSingh