Plea filed before Delhi High Court to increase pecuniary jurisdiction of civil courts

A plea has been filed before the Delhi High Court, seeking directions to raise the pecuniary jurisdiction of civil courts in Delhi and thus reduce the overload of cases before the district courts (Amit Sahni vs. The State). .The plea filed by lawyer Amit Sahni, sought enhancement of pecuniary jurisdiction of the civil judges posted at various district courts of Delhi. The plea stated that the present limit of ₹3 lakh is "meagre for civil courts" and results in a large number of cases filed before the district courts, with their wider jurisdictional limits.In this regard, the plea highlighted how the pecuniary jurisdiction of civil judges posted at various Delhi courts had not changed since 2003, while that of the District Judges and Additional District Judges increased ten times, from ₹20 lakh in 2003 to ₹2 crores in 2015."The pecuniary Jurisdiction of the District Judges changed from time to time from ₹25,000, ₹1 lakh, ₹5 lakh, ₹20 lakh and finally upto ₹2 crores in 2015," the petition said.Likewise, the pecuniary jurisdiction of High Court was also raised."The original pecuniary jurisdiction of High Court was initially above ₹25,000 and was subsequently raised to ₹50,000, ₹1 lakh, ₹5 lakh, ₹20 lakh and finally to above ₹2 crores in 1970, 1980, 1992, 2003 and 2015 respectively," the plea said.Section 15 of the Civil Procedure Code lays out that a suit shall be instituted in the court which is the lowest grade competent to try it. .The plea stated that the plight of the litigant in a district court must be addressed by enhancing the jurisdiction of civil judges at district courts of Delhi, as they are the 'court of first interaction' to a large strata of society.In this regard, Sahni also drew attention to the unlimited pecuniary jurisdiction enjoyed by the district courts in the areas neighbouring Delhi, like Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad."The pecuniary value of ₹3 lakh entrusted to civil judges of Delhi district Courts is on the extremely lower side and no property in Delhi is worth ₹3 lakh and the same has led to a stern stagnation as civil judges of district courts are adjudicating injunction suits and petty suits for recovery amounting upto 3 lakhs only," the plea reasoned..Delhi High Court goes on strike (again) over Pecuniary Jurisdiction issue