Lawyers in all the six District Courts of Delhi have decided to protest against what they see as undue delay in revising the pecuniary jurisdiction of District Courts. At present, the Delhi High Court enjoys original jurisdiction over all property matters which are worth over Rs.20 lakh which means that if the property is worth Rs. 20 lakh or more, the litigant must file the suit before the High Court.

In a region where 95% of the property will be valued greater than Rs.20 lakh as per the new circle rate, it is inevitable that the High Court shall be burdened with property disputes as per Rajiv Khosla of the Coordination Committee of the various bar assocaitions (Coordination Committee). Speaking to Bar & Bench, Khosla argued that litigants are forced to suffer interiminable delays and hardships due to this cap on jurisdiction. Lawyer's fees and other costs are also far higher in the High Court than in the District Court he opines.

The Coordination Committee of the bar assocaitions of the six District Courts plan to meet Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit and Law Minister Salman Khurshid to press their demands, reports the Deccan Herald.

Speaking to Bar & Bench, Supreme Court advocate Sanjoy Ghose said that there is a need to revise the pecuniary jurisdiction of District Courts. Several High Courts in the country do not enjoy original jurisdiction [for such civil matters], he observed, and it might be a good idea to abolish original jurisdiction [for such civil matters] altogether. 

While abolishing original jurisdictions may be some time away, the fact of the matter is that revisions of jurisdiction based on pecuniary considerations is nothing new. On May 27, 2010 the Tamil Nadu government revised the pecuniary jurisdiction of subordinate courts allowing these courts to hear civil matters involving matters up to Rs. 25 lakh. It is interesting to note in 1892 when the City Civil Court was established in Madras, the jurisdiction of the court was just Rs.2,500.

On Jan 10, 2012 the Indian Express had reported the Maharashtra government's decision to raise the pecuniary jurisdiction of District Courts following a recommendation made by the state bar council. The state government has now raised the pecuniary jurisdiction of the civil judges (junior division) from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh and for district judges from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh in civil suits involving property.

The last time such a revision took place was nearly 13 years ago. The steep increase in land prices since then meant that a disproportionately large number of property disputes in the state were filed in the Bombay High Court. The move, effective from January 16, 2012 would relieve the High Court of nearly 50,000 pending civil appeals as per Jayant Jaibhave of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa.

While the manner in which the capital's district lawyers have opted to display their displeasure is questionable, there is a fair bit of strength in the argument that there must be a periodic increase in pecuniary jurisdiction to reflect current property rates.