Pecuniary jurisdiction of city court enhanced to ₹10 cr

The Bombay city civil court in India can now handle civil disputes involving properties worth up to ₹10 crore, following a jurisdictional increase by the state government. The move aims to reduce the burden on the high court, which had been dealing with a higher number of civil suits due to the escalating value of properties in Mumbai. The amendment will result in the transfer of 8,762 civil suits from the high court to the city civil court. However, the overall backlog of cases is not expected to change significantly.

MUMBAI: Bombay city civil court can now adjudicate on civil disputes pertaining to properties valued up to ₹10 crore, as the state government has enhanced pecuniary jurisdiction of the court from ₹1 crore to ₹10 crore.

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The state government had on July 27 introduced a bill to amend the Bombay City Civil Court Act, 1948 and enhance the court’s pecuniary jurisdiction. This was primarily to reduce the burden on the high court. The bill was proposed because the value of properties as well as the valuation of civil suits in Mumbai had escalated sharply, and more civil suits were being filed in the Bombay high court than in the city civil court.

Bombay city civil court is the only district court in Maharashtra that has been set up under a special enactment and has a limited pecuniary jurisdiction. All other district courts across the state have unlimited pecuniary jurisdiction.

The amendment, notified by the law and judiciary department on November 20 following Presidential assent, will result in the transfer of 8,762 civil suits from the Bombay high court to the city civil court, as had happened in 2012, when the pecuniary jurisdiction of the city civil court was enhanced from ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore.

“This will ease the burden on the high court, but the overall pendency would remain unchanged,” said Manoj Bhatia, a high court lawyer. The strength of judges in the city civil court would also have to be increased to deal with the workload, said a senior IAS officer, adding that alternate dispute resolution avenues like the Lok Adalats must be explored.

As on date, 7,08,091 cases are pending in Bombay high court, including 5,92,879 civil and 1,15,212 criminal cases. The civil cases include 12,444 civil suits.