Gujarat High Court Civil Manual (subordinate court practice), 1960
For the prompt and effective disposal of judicial business the following suggestions are made :— (a) The Presiding Judge should personally fix all the dates in the proceedings and should not leave the matter to the Bench Clerk. (b) When fixing dates for the appearance of persons summoned, attention should be paid to the provisions of rule 6 of Order V and rule 9 of Order XVI, Civil Procedure Code. (c) In fixing the Daily Board, due regard should be had to the complexity of the suit, the period for which it has been pending and the time expected to be available for its hearing. The Presiding Officer of the Court should also make a rough estimate as to the period required for the disposal of each portion of work. He should keep a margin for contingencies like collapse of the board by reason of unforeseen and unavoidable adjournments or compromises etc. (d) The dates for final hearing of suits should be fixed after informal consultation with the lawyers, preferably when issues are framed, as to the time the final hearing is likely to occupy. (e) Apart from the division of suits into Small Causes suits and Regular Suits, the latter should be further divided into (a) Short Causes and (b) Long Causes. In the first would fall uncontested suits and other suits of simple character and in the latter seriously contested or complicated suits. It should be possible for the Presiding Judge to place a suit in its appropriate category upon consideration of the pleadings and issues in the case. Short cause suits would include suits for maintenance, suits under section 9 of the Specific Relief Act, suits instituted under rules 63 and 103 of Order XXI, of the Code of Civil Procedure, Petitions under the Property of Wages Act, Workmens' Compensation Act, Hindu Marriage Act, and Succession Act. The category of the suit should be indicated in the sheet on which issues have been scribed by noting in the top right-hand corner the letter 'S' or 'L' according as the suit belongs to the first or the second category. It will, however, be in discretion of the Judge to transfer a suit from one category to the other. (f) In Courts in which exclusively civil work is done the first four days should ordinarily be set apart for the trial of long causes, one day for the trial of short causes and small cause suits and for dealing with interlocutory and miscellaneous matters and one day for execution work. While distributing the work in this manner care should be taken to ensure that there is adequate work for each day of the week. It would, of course, be open to the Judge to modify that pattern according to the state of the file in his Court. It is also open to him to hear, upon a motion, urgent matters on any day of the week. (g) If, after the issues are framed and matters preliminary to the trial are attended to, it is found that no day for hearing is available within the next 3 months, the case should be entered on the sine die list until such time as a day is available for hearing it. The list must be carefully examined by the Judge every week so as to see that the cases in it are set down for hearing as days become available. When the Judge finds it practicable to fix a day for hearing of such suits, he should do so after due intimation to the lawyers concerned or to the parties if they are unrepresented. (h) All suits and other matters requiring judicial orders and cases in which judgments are to be delivered should be shown on the Notice Board. Even suits and proceedings in which only formal orders are required should be notified. (i) If for any reason contested and uncontested work is fixed for the same day, the Judge should first go through the contested work, and whole list of the day, dispose of all uncontested work, and then take up contested work. (j) The Judge should endeavour, as a general rule, to dispose of a suit according to its age, to be determined by the date of institution. He should also bear in mind the mark 'S' or 'L' shown on the corner of the issue sheet. (k) Every Judge proceeding on leave, for whom no locum tenens has been appointed, should before his departure adjourn all cases set down for hearing, during the period of adjourn all cases set down for hearing, during the period of his absence, and should, as far as possible, give notice of the adjournments to all parties or the lawyers concerned when necessary.