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District Courts of India

Law of India

This article is part of the series:
Judiciary of India

Executive Court

District Magistrate/ Additional District Magistrate
Sub-Divisional Magistrate
Assistant Magistrate
Special Judicial Magistrate

view · Devanagari: जिला न्यायालय) of India are the district courts established by the State governments in India for every district or for one or more districts together taking into account the number of cases, population distribution in the district. They administer justice in India at a district level. These courts are under administrative control of the High Court of the State to which the district concerned belongs. The decisions of District court is subject to the appellate jurisdiction of the High court.[1]

Composition of District courts

The highest court in each district is that of the District and Sessions Judge. This is the principal court of original civil jurisdiction besides High Court of the State and which derives its jurisdiction in civil matters primarily from the code of civil procedure. The district court is also a court of Sessions when it exercises its jurisdiction on criminal matters under Code of Criminal procedure. The district court is presided over by one District Judge appointed by the state Government. In addition to the district judge there may be number of Additional District Judges and Assistant District Judges depending on the workload. The Additional District Judge and the court presided have equvivalent jurisdiction as the District Judge and his district court.

However, the district judge has supervisory control over Additional and Assistant District Judges, including decisions on allocation of work among them. The District and Sessions judge is often referred to as "district judge" when he presides over civil matters and "sessions judge" when he presides over criminal matters. Being the highest judge at district level, the District Judge also enjoys the power to manage the state funds allocated for the development of judiciary in the district.

The district judge is also called "Metropolitan session judge" when he is presiding over a district court in a city which is designated "Metropolitan area" by the state Government. Other courts subordinated to district court in the Metropolitan area are also referred to with "metropolitan" prefixed to the usual designation. An area is designated a metropolitan area by the concerned state Government if population of the area exceeds one million.

Appointment of district judge and other Additional and Assistant district judges is done by the state Government in consultation with the High court of the state. A minimum of seven years of practise as a lawyer at bar is a necessary qualification. Upon a written examination and oral interview by a committee of High court judges, the appointment of district judges is notified by the state Government. This is referred to as direct recruitment. District judges are also appointed by way of elevation of judges from courts subordinate to district courts provided they fulfill the minimum years of service.

A district judge or Additional judge may be removed from his office by the state Government in consultation with the High court. The next level of ascendancy for a district judge who served sufficient number of years is the post of High court judge. High court Judges are usually appointed from a pool of advocates practising at the Bar of the High court and District Judges who served for sufficient number of years. By virtue of his office a district judge often occupies privileged position in the district alongside administrative heads of the district like the collector (not to be confused with postal stamp collector).

Jurisdiction

The District Court or Additional District court exercises jurisdiction both on original and appellate side in civil and criminal matters arising in the District. The territorial and pecuniary jurisdiction in civil matters is usually set in concerned state enactments on the subject of civil courts. On the criminal side jurisdiction is almost exclusively derived from code of criminal procedure. This code sets the maximum sentence which a district court may award which currently is capital punishment.

The court exercises appellate jurisdiction over all subordinate courts in the district on both civil and criminal matters. These subordinate courts usually consist of a Junior Civil Judge court, Principal Junior civil Judge court, Senior civil judge court (often called sub court)in the order of ascendancy on the civil side and the Judicial Magistrate Court of IInd Class, Judicial Magistrate Court of Ist class, Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in the order of ascendancy on the criminal side.

Certain matters on criminal or civil side cannot be tried by a court inferior in jurisdiction to a district court if the particular enactment makes a provision to the effect. This gives the District Court original jurisdiction in such matters.

Appeals from the district courts lie to the High court of the concerned state.

State-wide District Courts

The district courts of India are enlisted in List of district courts of India

See also

References

External links

v · Judiciary of India
Supreme Court
High Courts

List of High Courts of India
District Courts

District Courts of India · List of district courts of India
Judicial Magistrate of First Class
Judicial Magistrate of First Class
Constitution