BENGALURU: President Droupadi Murmu has given assent to the Code of Civil Procedure (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2024 (CCP Karnataka Amendment Bill, 2024), following which the State government issued a notification on Monday.
With this, cases in various subordinate courts need to be disposed of in a fixed time-frame.
Before a case is taken up for hearing, there will be a chance for mediation, for which two months’ time is given. This is the first of its kind in India.
Explaining the amendment, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil said the parties have to mandatorily make an attempt to resolve the case through mediation, within the given two months. Only if this doesn’t work will the court take up the case. “It is a historic law as it insists on completing proceedings within 24 months in civil courts. On day one of the trial or whenever the case is registered, the date of judgment will also be fixed,” he said.
Patil appealed to the legal fraternity, including advocates, to cooperate. He said a timetable will be set till the case is disposed of. According to the minister, there are around 10 lakh pending cases in subordinate courts, most of which are land-related.
Patil told reporters on Monday that the bill was passed in both Houses during the winter session in Belagavi last December, and later sent to the Governor. The Governor referred it to the President, who gave approval on May 19. “This law will help in speedy disposal of cases in civil courts. They say justice delayed is justice denied. We have been talking about this for many years. Some cases are pending for 20 years,’’ he said.
Patil said his department is working on speedy disposal of cases. “There should be less delay and social justice. Justice should not be a mirage or a costly affair. If people don’t get justice on time, they would be spending more time and money. We wanted to give them relief,’’ he said.