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Allahabad High Court

VIDYA AND 6 OTHERSversusSINGARI AND ANOTHER

Decided

Holding

The High Court held that it cannot direct a subordinate court to expedite a suit and therefore dismissed the petition.

Summary

The petitioners filed a writ under Article 227 seeking a direction to the Civil Judge (Junior Division) at Kushinagar to decide their case (No. 466/2024) under Section 31 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 within a fixed time. The High Court referred to the Supreme Court’s decision in High Court Bar Association v. State of Uttar Pradesh (2024) which held that constitutional courts should not impose time‑bound schedules on lower courts except in exceptional circumstances. It also relied on the Division Bench judgment in Ali Shad Usmani v. Ali Isteba (2015) which declined to order expeditious hearing of a civil suit for similar reasons. Consequently, the Court declined to direct the lower court to expedite the proceedings, emphasizing that such matters should be decided by the trial court based on its discretion. The petitioners were advised to move an application before the trial court for expeditious disposal, and the writ petition was disposed of.

Issues considered

  • Whether a High Court can issue a direction under Article 227 to a subordinate civil court to decide a suit within a stipulated time period.

Legislation cited

Subjects

  • Article 227
  • Article 226
  • Specific Relief Act
  • expeditious disposal
  • high court direction
  • civil suit
  • judicial discretion

Judgment

         HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
            MATTERS UNDER ARTICLE 227 No. - 13823 of 2026

Vidya And 6 Others
                                                                     .....Petitioner(s)
                                       Versus

Singari And Another
                                                                   .....Respondent(s)

Counsel for Petitioner(s)           : Manvendra Kumar Yadav, Reenika
                                      Gupta
Counsel for Respondent(s)           :

Court No. - 9
                HON'BLE ROHIT RANJAN AGARWAL, J.

1. This writ petition has been filed with the following prayer:-

     "1. Issue direction, directing to the learned trial Court /learned Civil
     Judge (J.D.) Kushinagar at Padrauna to decide the Case filed by the
     petitioners bearing Case No. 466/2024 (Vidya and others Versus Singari
     and another) under section 31 of S.R. Act 1963, expeditiously within
     stipulated period as fixed by this Hon'ble Court."

2. Recently, the Constitution Bench of Hon'ble Supreme Court in High
Court Bar Association, Allahabad vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and
others (2024) 6 SCC 267 has held that Constitutional Courts should
refrain from fixing a time-bound schedule for the disposal of cases
pending before any other courts. The Court further held that issue of
prioritising the disposal of cases should be best left to the decision of the
courts concerned where the cases are pending. Relevant para 47.3 of the
said judgment is extracted hereasunder :-

     "Constitutional courts, in the ordinary course, should refrain from fixing
     a time-bound schedule for the disposal of cases pending before any other
     courts. Constitutional courts may issue directions for the time-bound
     disposal of cases only in exceptional circumstances. The issue of
     prioritising the disposal of cases should be best left to the decision of the
     courts concerned where the cases are pending;"

3. The Division Bench of this Court in Ali Shad Usmani vs. Ali Isteba,
                                                                 A227 No. 13823 of 2026
                                    2


2015 (2) ADJ 250 (DB) has held that no direction can be issued to the
sub-ordinate courts for deciding the suit within stipulated period. Relevant
portion of the judgment is extracted hereasunder:-

     "We are not inclined to issue a direction for the expeditious hearing of a
     Civil Suit which is pending before the Civil Judge (Junior Division),
     District-Azamgarh. It would be most inappropriate to Court to entertain a
     writ petition under Article 226 and/or under Article 227 of the
     Constitution simply for the purpose of expediting the hearing of a suit.
     Such orders, if granted, place a class of litigants, who move the court in a
     separate and preferential category whereas other cases which may be of
     similar or greater antiquity and urgency are left to be decided in the
     normal channel. Hence, any such direction may be issued with the
     greatest care and circumspection by the High Court otherwise the Civil
     Courts will be overburdened only with requests for expeditious disposal
     of suits, which have been expedited by the High Court. Most of the
     litigants cannot afford the expense of moving the High court and would
     not, therefore, be in a position to have the benefit of such an order.

     Ultimately, it must be left to the judicious exercise of discretion of the
     concerned Court to determine whether a ground for urgency has been
     made out. We emphasize that there may be other cases such as involving
     senior citizens, those who are differently abled or people suffering from a
     particular disablilty socio-economic or otherwise which may prime cause
     of urgent disposal. It is for the learned Trial Judge in each case to apply
     his or her mind and decide whether the hearing of the suit to be
     expedited.

     For these reasons, we are not inclined to entertain the petition. The
     petition is, accordingly, dismissed. There shall be no order as to cost."

4. In view of above, this Court declines to direct the court below to
expedite the proceedings pending before it.

5. The petitioner may, however, move an application for expeditious
disposal of Case No. 466 of 2024 before the court concerned who will
decide the same on the basis of pendency of cases before it and also
                                                                                            A227 No. 13823 of 2026
                                                                   3


                                    keeping in mind the dictum of Hon’ble Apex Court.

                                    6. With the aforesaid direction, the writ petition stands disposed of.

                                    7. The Registrar (Compliance) is directed to communicate this order to
                                    the court concerned within 48 hours.



                                                                                    (Rohit Ranjan Agarwal,J.)
                                    October 1, 2026
                                    A. V. Singh




Digitally signed by :-
AJAY VIKRAM SINGH
High Court of Judicature at Allahabad


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