Gujarat High Court Criminal Manual (subordinate court practice), 1977
(1) By Government Resolution, Home Department No. CJL-5155-A, dated 15th December, 1965, the Civil Judges-cum-Judicial Magistrates and the Judicial Magistrates, First Class, are treated as belonging to the vacation department. Even though the Civil Judges-cum-Judicial Magistrates, First Class and the Judicial Magistrates, First Class, belong to the vacation department, they should be available during the vacation, not only to take up the urgent matters but also the pending cases and may be permitted to enjoy vacation in full or in part of it if alternative arrangement can be made for the disposal of the criminal work during the vacation without causing undue inconvenience to the parties and the witnesses and to the undertrial prisoners. Unless in a particular place, there are more than one Magistrate or a Magistrate and the Civil Judge and the work can be so adjusted that one of them can do the criminal work and the other can enjoy the vacation, or both of them can be permitted to take a part of the vacation by turns, or a Magistrate of a neighbouring Court can be conveniently asked to take up the work, the Magistrates should not be permitted to enjoy the vacation. It is open to the District Judges to cancel under rule 741 of the Bombay Civil Services Rules, Volume I, wherever necessary the vacation of Civil Judges who are not entrusted with the Criminal work and are entitled to enjoy the vacation automatically, in order to allow as many Civil Judges-cum-Judicial Magistrates and Judicial Magistrates as possible, to enjoy the vacation. (Vide Circular No. Y. 0204/63, dated the 5th April 1954). (2) The District and Sessions Judges, while following the instructions contained in the Circular referred to above, should follow the following instructions while granting the vacation to the Judicial Magistrates :— (i) As far as possible, no Civil Judge-cum-Magistrate or Judicial Magistrate should be permitted to enjoy any part of summer vacation so long as any criminal case in which the accused is in custody for more than three months, is not disposed of. (ii) Similarly, while granting permission to enjoy a part of the vacation the District and Sessions Judges should see that all cases which may fall in the above category are disposed of during the vacation and on the re-opening of the Courts after summer vacation, no case in which the accused is in custody for more than three months remains pending in any of the Courts in charge of the Presiding Officers of those Courts having been permitted to enjoy summer vacation. (iii) It should be impressed upon the Civil Judges-cum-Magistrates and Judicial Magistrates, that the fact that the Magistrate was on vacation, shall not be considered as a valid explanation for delay in the disposal of cases in which undertrial prisoners have been in custody for more than three months, for the purpose of paragraph 459 relating to quarterly return of undertrial prisoners. (iv) No Court should be without a Judicial Magistrate for more than three weeks during summer vacation. (v) With a view to see that, custody cases are disposed of during the summer vacation and that the Judicial Magistrates are permitted to conveniently enjoy a part of the summer vacation, the Civil Judges who are otherwise permitted to enjoy full summer vacation should, if necessary, be prevented from enjoying the whole of the summer vacation and asked to work as Judicial Magistrates during the whole of the summer vacation or any part thereof according to the exigencies of the case, under rule 741 of the Bombay Civil Services Rules, Volume I. (v) If, in any Court, the number of custody cases, in which the accused are in jail for more than three months, is large, Civil Judges and Judicial Magistrates should be asked to work by rotation in that Court, so that work of actually trying cases would go on for all the six weeks. (Vide Circular No. D. 2907/60, dated 19th December 1960).