HYDERABAD: IN order to curb delays in civil litigations, the Hyderabad High Court has recently held that the courts shall fix a day for pronouncing the judgment and it shall not be beyond 60 days from the date on which the hearing of the case is concluded. Noting that Rule 142 of the AP Civil Rules of Practice and Circular orders have to be scrupulously followed by the courts, Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy directed the lower courts in both AP and Telangana not to reserve the case for judgment till the arguments of both sides in all respects are completed and the court gets clarity on all aspects of the counsels of both sides.
“Once the case trial is completed and the judgment is reserved, the court below must avoid reopening of the case suo motu. Even in exceptional circumstances, cases cannot be reopened without assigning proper reasons and without notice to both the parties concerned,” the judge said. In order to monitor the said issue at HC level, all the Unit Heads were requested to furnish the consolidated data in the given proforma, relating to the cases that were re-opened together with the reasons, in brief, every month, he added.
Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy was passing the order in a civil revision petition filed by B Vijaya Lakshmi, challenging the order of I Additional senior civil judge, Visakhapatnam, which had set aside her amendment petition. The petitioner sought to direct the respondent M Uma to vacate the schedule premises.
After hearing the case and perusing the material on record, Justice Nagarjuna Reddy expressed displeasure with the functioning of lower courts in handling the civil cases. He pointed out that the practice of reserving the cases for judgment and reopening the same suo motu again and again appears to be prevalent in many courts in AP and Telangana.