INTRODUCTION

District Courts in Delhi are located at six places.Saket is one of them.The District court of
Saket is one of the finest court houses of the entire India. It started functioning from 28th
August 2010. It is basically a huge court complex consisting of both civil and criminal
courts.The Work of Civil and Criminal cases related to South Civil District and South and
South East Police Districts hitherto being taken up at Patiala House Courts Complex come
under jurisdiction of saket court from 2010.We were fourtunate enough to visit different
branches of court namely-Mediation centre,Family courts,Court of small causes,Criminal
courts,Vulnerable witness room etc..about which I have described briefly in the following
portion of report.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE COURT

Saket court complex should definitely be considerd as one of the greatest monuments of
modern architecture. It is a seven storeyed building with 81 court rooms.Saket Court Complex
consists of 68 Courts, Family Court, Delhi Legal Services Authorities Office and various other
branches and Lawyers Chambers. First of all, I was simply surprised looking at the building
itself.
There are clear signs to find your way around without any confusion. The court buildings are
very clean and comfortable.There are waiting areas for visitors with ample seating space for
litigants,lawyers and audience inside and outside the court rooms and court halls of main
building.
We were quite impressed with the proper maintainance of court.Coming to Infrastructure, it is
of high standards and all the court rooms are almost air conditioned.One more interesting thing
I have found is that cases that are to be heard for the day are displayed clearly outside the court
room.The court staff and advocates allotted to guide us were very helpful and clarified all our
doubts with a lot of patience.Even the faculty lecturer was quite helpful in making us
understand the entire functioning mechanism of Judiciary

PERSONAL OBSERVATION

This visit would definitely be a very memorable and delightful experience.For a minute, I felt
like Okay,Wait! Am I really in a court???Because, the reality is very very far away from my
common assumptions and expectations of a court that are formed on the baisis of movies I have
watched. The entire procedure was being organised very professionally without any screaming
or any disturbance of that sort.All my observations are scattered as I have mentioned my
personal observations of each and every place that we have seen specifically.

INTERACTION WITH JUDGES

We have got an opportunity to interact with Judge-in-Charge of Mediation cente, Mr.Vinay

Kumar Khanna. That interaction was no doubt an enriching one.He busted out the most
common myth about judges that they are always serious or aggresive by being so casual and
spontaneous.We have learnt that 25-30 cases are received by the mediation centre everyday on
an average.He also told how well all the mediators are trained before appointments are being
made. He answered all our questions in a very friendly manner.

Also,Judge of Court of Small Causes,Mr.Jai Tareja had shared his experiences as a judge.He
explained us the difficulties of a judge because a judge is always on the receiving end of
negativity that prevails in the court environment.Looking at the bright side,he also mentioned
about positives like privileges and the sense of power and authority attached to position of a
judge.Also,he solved a property related case infront of us with his wit andwisdom.

DELHI LEGAL SERVICE AUTHORITY

BACKGROUND
Legal aid is an essential part of the Administration of Justice.

Three important constitutional provisions behind origin of NALSA :

i)Towards fulfilling the promise made in our preamble on securing to all the citizens, Justice –
social, economic and political,
ii)Article 39 A of the Constitution of India provides for free legal aid to the poor and weaker
sections of the society, to promote justice on the basis of equal opportunity.
iii)Articles 14 and 22(1) of the Constitution also make it obligatory for the State to ensure
equality before law.

In 1987, the Legal Services Authorities Act was enacted by the Parliament, which came into
force on 9th November, 1995 to establish a nationwide uniform network for providing free and
competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society.Public awareness, equal
opportunity and deliverable justice are the cornerstones on which the edifice of NALSA is
based.
“Access to Justice for All” is the motto of the Delhi Legal Services Authority. Delhi State
Legal Services Authority erstwhile Delhi Legal Aid & Advice Board has been constituted by
the NALSA Act passed in 1987.
For the purpose of administrative convenience and segregation of work & records,DSLSA has
been divided into 4 different Wings.They are as follows:

1.Establishment Wing - It has different sections under it.

a)Administrative section coordinates central office with other departments
b)Accounts section manages funds that are received from government.

2.Legal Aid Wing - This wing provides a variety of services from free legal aid for under
priviliged(Panel lawyers are arranged to take up their issues) to counselling sessions to victims
of sexual violence.

3.Lok Adalat Wing - Delhi State Legal Services Authority organizes Lok Adalats for
settlement of all types of pending and pre-litigation Civil and Criminal Compoundable cases
regularly every month
4.Legal Literacy Wing - It is this absence of legal awareness which is responsible for the
deception, exploitation and deprivation of rights and benefits, from which the people suffer in
the state.The miserable condition in which the people find themselves can be alleviated to some
extent by creating legal awareness amongst the people.Awareness programmes are conducted
at schools,colleges,police training institutes,juvenile welfare offices,old age homes.In this
way,Legal Literacy Missions are implemented. This wing publicizes its events through print
and electronic Media as well.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION

DSLSA office was the first place we have visited. We were welcomed by the front office
advocates and staff. After division of students into three different batches,each batch was
allotted an advaocate from Front Office. He first explained the functions of DSLSA and then
took us to front office. He briefed us the procedure to apply for provision of free legal aid
service.He also told us that not everyone can apply for free services. Therefore, we got to know
that there is a criteria fixed regarding who all are eligible to avail the free services provided by
DSLSA

MEDIATION

It is an attempt at resolving a dispute by settlement with the assistance of a Mediator who is a

neutral third party. The most important feature of mediation is that meetings are completely
"confidential" and may not be disclosed even to Judge hearing the case.

JOB OF A MEDIATOR is to assist the parties in arriving at an amicable solution. These

negotiations help them to reach a mutually acceptable agreement. The parties need not agree to
the terms of settlement, if they are not satisfied.
Formal procedures as in a Court or arbitration are completely absent in mediation proceedings
and provides for an open discussion of the issues and determine a solution accordingly.Judges
and arbitrators make decisions that are imposed on parties but a mediator helps the parties to
evaluate the probable outcome of a dispute and
then leads them to an acceptable settlement.

BENEFITS OF MEDIATION

1.Saves a lot of time, efforts, energy and most importantly money.

2.Creates a win-win situation for both the parties.
3. Allows more flexibility to derive a quick solution.
4. Enables a better understanding of the case

PERSONAL OBSERVATION

Frankly speaking, I was not even aware of the the fact there exists something called Mediation
Centre until the visit.I was quite impressed with infrastructure especially the furniture, the
seperate individual chambers provided for the officers and soft music that was being played
made the entire atmosphere more peaceful.
The judge-in-Charge had explained us the basic difference between court proceedings and
mediation proceedings. Later on he also told us about the benefits of mediation which are
mentioned above.

FAMILY COURTS

Our judiciary deals with a broad spectrum of issues such as family matters and property which
continue for generations. Such cases continue for atrocious periods of time, ranging from 7
years to 30 years

BACKGROUND

The Family Courts Act, 1984 provides for establishment of Family courts by
the State Governments in consultation with the High Courts to resolve disputes concerning the
family through this alternate adjudication forum.The need to establish the Family Courts was
first emphasized by the late Smt. Durgabai Deshmukh. In 1953, she made a proposal to set up
Family Courts in India.

JURISDICTION OF FAMILY COURTS

i. Matrimonial relief including judicial separation,divorce, restitution of conjugal rights, or

declaration as to the validity of a marriage or as to the matrimonial status of any person.
ii. The property of the spouses or either of them,
iii. Guardianship of a person or the custody of any minor,
iv. Maintenance of wife, children or parents

CHILDREN ROOM

Family courts have been designed keeping in mind not only the requirements of aduts but also
children who are required to visit court to visit one of the seperated parents.These rooms are
well furnished and well equipped to make sure they interact with each other in a comforting
atmosphere.There are toys for children to play and they are provided with snacks.

COUNSELLING

The family court aims to sustain and retain the institution of Family with a number of
counselling sessions and hence courts are equipped with counsellors as there is also a human
and psychological dimension to be dealt with in these matters. The role of the counsellors is not
limited to counselling but extends to reconciliation and mutual settlement wherever deemed
feasible.

FACILITATION CENTRE

At this Centre,there was a Public relation officer, trained member of the staff to assist us in
providing information about court work,its proceedings,status of case,date of hearing etc.. is
made available to litigants, lawyers and general public. An important point to be noted is that
no legal advice will be provided by them.

COPYING AGENCY

Here,fresh certified copies of applications are accepted and delivers the ready copies from their
respective counters to court rooms.However, we got to know that there is a seperate filing
counter where all the complaints are filed.This agency only delivers the copies of documents
related to the Judicial Case Files on application.We have seen both these places in the family
court.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION

We could not witness the proceedings as the judge of family court was on leave. After seeing
the atmosphere of family court,I have realised that our Indian judiciary is well concerned about
Children and impact of these bitter court proceedings on the young minds.So, main PURPOSE
behind setting up these Courts is to take the cases dealing with family matters away from the
intimidating atmosphere of regular courts and ensure that a congenial environment is set up to
deal with matters such as marriage, divorce, alimony, child custody etc. I personally felt that
seperation of family issues from civil cases and having family courts is a very good intension.
Establishment of children room and organising counselling sessions with the help of
psychologists with a hope of reunion are really thoughtful. Channeling of Family cases to these
courts set up specially for this purpose ensures speedy disposal and effective redressal.

CRIMINAL COURT

BACKGROUND

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) constitutes India's substantive criminal law. Later on it was
repealed and a new Code of Criminal Procedure,1974 (CrPC) was enacted to carry out the
process of the administration and enforcement of criminal law.
The basic difference between police cases and private complaints which is mentioned below
was told to us by the advocate

POLICE CASES

When an FIR is registered and the accused is arrested in bailable matter he will be produced
before the Court from where he may be released on furnishing a bail. When the magistrate
directs,Officer-in-charge of police station starts the investigation and submits report. And then
an inquiry is conducted by court. Based on it charge is framed and then begins the Trial,
judicial determination of a person's guilt or innocence.It involves examination and
determination of the cause by a judicial tribunal, and which ends in conviction or acquittal of
the accused. In non-bailable matters, the person arrested by the police is to be produced before
the Magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest and if further custodial interrogation is required, the
police official may request for remand, otherwise, the person is sent to Judicial custody in Jail.
PRIVATE COMPLAINT CASES

In minor offences,the aggrieved person is required to file a complaint in the Court of concerned
Magistrate. Even in cognizable offences, where police refuses to register an FIR, the victim can
approach the court of Magistrate and file a complaint. The court may direct for registration of
an FIR. Otherwise it will record evidence of the complainant and his witnesses and if it is found
that there is some substance in the complaint, the other party will be summoned and heard.

STAGES OF TRIAL
Based on the information provided by our front office advocate, following are the stages of
trial:
1.After filing of the criminal complaint,if accused are asked to present by issuing summons to
them and notices.
2.When the magistrate directs,Officer-in-charge of police station starts the investigation and
submits report.
3.And then an inquiry is conducted by court.
4. Based on it charge is framed i.e. Substance of the offences alleged against the person facing
the trial will be put to him and then begins the Trial,the judicial determination of a person's
guilt or innocence.It involves examination and he will be asked whether he admits his guilt or
not.
4. If accused admits the guilt, he will be punished accordingly and if he does not accept his
guilt, the prosecution will be given a chance to examine the witnesses to prove its case.
5.Once the witnesses have been examined, the entire substance of the evidence will be put to
the accused and his replies will be recorded in the statement of the accused.
6.The person facing a trial also has a right to get his own witnesses examined in the Court to
prove his innocence in defence evidence.
7. After completion of the evidence, final arguments will be heard and case will be decided
accordingly.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION

By the time we visited this particular court, judgement was already delivered. However,we have
observed that the judge was dictating the judgment to a person sitting on the podium just below
her. We got to know that he is called Stenographer.
A STENOGRAPHER or court reporter, works in the courtroom and transcribes spoken words
of judge and prepares the order.
A lady was standing beside the judge. She is called AHLMAD and her duty is to sort out all
the files and prepare the rough list of cases to be heard by the judge in a day.
READER is basically the caretaker of court.
Handling files,Calling cases, Collection of evidences like signatures or thumb impressions are
different jobs performed by him.
All this information about staff was provided to us by the judge himself.
CIVIL COURTS

BACKGROUND

These courts generally deal with issues of property, business,breach of contracts, wrongs
committed in money transactions,minor omissions etc.. The first uniform Code of Civil
Procedure was enacted in 1859. The present Code of Civil Procedure was enacted in
1908.Court of small causes is a kind of civil court generally established in metropolitan cities.

COURT OF SMALL CAUSES

Presidency Small Causes Court Act of 1882 provides for establishment of these courts by
State government within its territory.As the name suggests, they deal with civil cases of small
value and its financial jurisdiction does not exceed 25 Lakh rupees.Court of small causes is
responsible for adjudicating matters of civil nature especially property,rent, license,tax and
other such disputes. This court is presided over by chief judge who is in the same cadre of
district judge.

JURISDICTION
1.Property recovery cases
2. Injunction matters
3. Title suits
4.Declaration suits
5.Trade marks,patent and copyright cases

WITNESS OF PROCEEDINGS

We witnessed a case in which there was petioner standing on one side and respondent on the
other side.We did not get to know completely about the case but as far as I understood,the man
was demanding a sum of 65,000/- from a lady and she was seeking for a compromise. She was
willing to pay only 60,000/- Lawyer on her side requested the judge to send the case to
mediation centre but the judge rejected to transfer it and somehow sorted out the issue and sent
them away.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION

We asked judge the reason for not sending the case to mediation centre, he quickly replied by
saying that if an issue can be solved here itself by compromise there is no need to waste a lot of
time, energy and efforts by transfering it to mediation centre.Moreover, there was no huge
differnce between money demanded and money she was willing to pay. It was a matter of just
5000/-
At this point of time I have realised that judges should act with both wiseness and
spontaneity.Only then good judgements can be delivered.
One more interesting thing we have noticed is that there are a couple of police officers in
criminal court but we didnt find any police officer in civil court. This made it very clear that
police officers are concerned with criminal matters but not civil cases.After making comparison
between civil and criminal courts,We have learnt that proceedings and lay out are fairly similar
VULNERABLE WITNESS ROOM

Vulnerable Witness – is a child who has not completed 18 years of age.

Under circumstances of intimidating criminal justice system, a vulnerable witness may provide
weak testimony and less information than should have been elicited.Vulnerable witnesses shall
receive high priority and shall be handled as expeditiously as possible, minimizing unnecessary
delays and continuances.

LIVE LINK provides electronic means whereby a witness, while absent from the
courtroom is nevertheless present in the court room by remote communication using
technology to give evidence and be cross-examined.

IN-CAMERA PROCEEDINGS where public and press are not allowed to participate, for good
reason to protect the privacy of the vulnerable witness. A screen or
other device be placed in the courtroom in such a manner that the child cannot see the
accused while testifying.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION

This place is one which truly touched my heart and Indian judiciary deserves genuine
appreciation for establishment of this sort of special set up for vulnerable witnesses.A guardian
will take care of their needs in court.Courts have taken the complete responsiblity to make sure
a safe environment is created for children who have underdone immense trauma.We have seen
toys arranged for kids to play in the room.The room has books, TV, etc. which can help them
lower their anxiety.This will ensure that trial process is less traumatic and minimise further
victimisation.It is also necessary to pay special attention to these kind of isues.Further, the
lengthy proceedings can affect the psychological development of vulnerable witnesses and
disable this sensitivity in significant and long-lasting ways.Therefore special arrangements like
live link, on-camera proceedings are madefor them.The kind of care and concern shown by
courts is highly applaudable.This vulnerable witness room has clearly shown the empathetic
angle of our judicial sysetem.

MAHILA COURT

BACKGROUND

The concept of Mahila court is a fairly recent but increasingly prevalent phenomenon in
contemporary India. Mahila courts can be considered as a particular kind of alternative dispute-
resolution forum specifically designed to address women's marital and related family
problems.These courts are headed by experienced women judges and magistrates and the staff
employed in such courts is also predominantly female.

PURPOSE

Mahila Courts serve the following purposes:

1.The main aim is to provide a safe and unthreatening environment wherein women can air
their grievances, work out satisfactory settlements with husbands and in-laws, or find ways to
escape their difficult situations altogether.
2.They speedily deal with and dispose off cases pertaining to women fighting legal battles
especially after matrimonial discord.
3.It encourages women to resolve domestic disputes informally, rather than by resort to the
state's judicatory institutions which can be highly inconvinient for women for obvious reasons.
4.They also deal with the cases of kidnapping (Sec: 363 I.P.C), procuring minor girls for the
purpose of prostitution, rape (Sec: 376 I.P.C.) and cruelty by husband or in-laws (Sec: 498-A
I.P.C)

ONE STOP CENTRE

Women have always been victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence,
trafficking, honour related crimes, acid attacks or witch-hunting etc..
These centres are intended to support women affected by violence, in private and public spaces,
within the family, community and at the workplace.Women facing physical, sexual, emotional,
psychological and economic abuse will be facilitated with support and redressal. Due to time
constraint, we could not visit this centre but then we got to know about it through some of our
friends.

QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION

After visiting all these places, a question and answer session was arranged in a conference hall
in which students asked various questions like prevalence of sexism in judiciary etc..They were
all well answered by a District and sessions judge, Neena Krishna Bansal. this was followed by
address of secretary of DSLSA. She delivered a valuable speech in the end after which we were
served some refreshments.

APPRECIATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Saket court is a model court that rest of our Indian courts can look upto.In other words, Saket
court complex can be labelled as absoluletely flawless judicial body. Also,the court have taken
many intiatives to make the work of judiciary. The recommendations mentioned below are
suggested in general by keeping entire judiciary in mind but not just to Saket court.

1.STRENGTH OF JUDGES

If we look at the ratio of pending cases and legal professionals available,India has just 13
judges per million of its population. That's a very low number, while most developed countries
have 50 and some even more than 100. What this means is that the first thing the government
has to do is increase the number of judges.And also,There are many vacancies which are
currently left unfilled in India as a result of the executive-judiciary tussle. There is need to treat
judicial appointments like those to any other government post and ensure that vacancies in the
judiciary is filled promptly.

2.COMPUTERISATION
Delhi District Judiciary is the most modern judicial organization of India.It has achieved 100%
computerization of its operations in 2005. Judiciary can maintain its accountabilty by extending
this task of computerisation to all over India.
Saket court is a model court that rest of our Indian courts can look upto.

3. VIDEO CONFERENCING

Delhi Judiciary is also equipped with Video Conference Courts to try undertrials lodged in
various Jails all over India.It is always not possible for everyone to attend the proceedings due
to various reasons and emergency situations. Hence, Video conferencing is a very good
technique to resolve the issue despite physical absence of one of the parties.Technological
devices really help in speedy disposal of cases.

4.MODERNISATION OF COURT

Our courts should be fully digitised and technical experts should be brought in to streamline the
whole process right from when a person files a case, to updating it, to the final verdict.Internet
can be a good tool if used judiciously. Cause Lists, List of cases to be heard,Daily Orders and
Judgments are to be made available on the internet.

5.REPORT MAKING

In December 2005, Hon’ble Chief Justice of India released the ‘Case

Management Manual’ and ‘Annual Report 2004’ of Delhi District Judiciary.
Again, Delhi Judiciary is the only District Judiciary in India to publish its own
Annual Report and Case Management Manual. These reports would be very helpful to evaluate
the functional of courts and hence this concept of report making should be adopted by all other
courts of our country.

6.LEGAL PRACTITIONERS IN FAMILY COURTS

There is a provision that dispute before a Family Court shall not be entitled, as of right, to be
represented by a legal practitioner. However, the Court may, in the interest of justice, seek
assistance of a legal expert as amicus curiae,

7.TO KEEP COURTS OPEN THROUGH OUT THE YEAR

Times have changed and today people are active round the clock. But the Indian judiciary still
works in the early fashion. They have summer vacations, winter vacations and a lot of other
leaves. It is just not accepted when we are carrying the baggage of three crore backlog cases. In
fact, the special night shift magistrate needs to be implemented so that people need not wait till
the courts open. The government needs to get it straight that the Indian Judicial system should
get the status of an emergency service.

8.TO DO AWAY WITH ARCHAIC LAWS

Indian Judiciary had come into existence after India earned her independence in 1947. The laws
were made as per the societal condition then. But in recent times, a lot of law has become
redundant. Hence, it is time that the Indian Judicial system does away with the archaic laws and
takes into consideration the present social condition before giving a judgment.It took a lot of
time and efforts for judiciary to eliminate colonial era laws like decremalisation of
homosexuality. There are many such laws like sedition laws which are to be looked into and
abolish them as early as possible.

9.OPENING OF LEGAL LITERACY CLUBS

On 27th October, 2014, Delhi State Legal Services Authority inaugurated ‘Mass Legal Literacy
Campaign’ and ‘Opening of Legal Literacy Clubs in Schools and Colleges’ at Plenary Hall,
Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India. This is a highly noteworthy
intitiative of DSLSA.Other states must and should borrow this idea. Promotion of legal literacy
in our society is very essential. It is only through legal awareness, one can avail the services
offered by our judiciary.