The Mizoram Gazette

EXTRA ORDINARY
Published by Authority
Regn. No. NE-313(MZ) 2006-2008 Rs. 2/- per issue
VOL - XXXVI I Aizawl, Tuesday 16.12.2008 Agrahayana 25, S.B. 1930, Issue No. 500

NOTIFICATION

No. A. 48011/1l2006-L&J(E)/236, the 5th December, 2008. The following Rules is hereby
published for general information.

Gauhati High Court case Management Rules, 2007.

Zahmingthanga Ralte,
Under Secretary to the Govt. ofMizoram.
Ex-500/2008 -2-

THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT AT GUWAHATI

(THE HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MEGHALAYA,
MANIPUR, TRIPURA, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)

NOTIFICATION
Dated, Guwahati the 19th November, 2008

Gauhati High Court Case Management Rules, 2007

NO.HC.XI-01/2008/1053/RC # # In exercise of the powers conferred by Article

225 of the Constitution of India, and Part X of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908,
(5 of 1908) and Article 6 of the Assam High Court Order, 1948 and all other
powers enabling it, the Gauhati High Court hereby makes the following Rules:

Gauhati High Court Case Management Rules, 2007

r. Division of cases into different tracks:

1. Writ Petitions: The High Court shall, at the stage of admission or issuing
notice before admission categorize the Writ Petitions other than Writ of
Habeas Corpus, into three categories depending on the urgency with which
the matter should be dealt with: the Fast Track, the Normal Track and the
Slow Track. The petitions in the Fast Track shall invariably be disposed of
within a period not exceeding six months while the petitions in the Normal
Track should not take longer than a year. The petitions in the Slow Track,
subject to the pendency of other cases in the Court, should ordinarily be
disposed of within a period of two years.

Where an interim order of stay or injunction is granted in respect of

liability to tax or demolition or eviction from public premises etc. such a
matter shall be put on the Fast Track. Similarly, all matters involving tenders
would also be put on the Fast Track. These matters cannot brook delays in
disposal.
2. Senior officers of the High Court, nominated for the purpose, shall at
intervals of every month, monitor the stage of each case likely to come up
for hearing before each Bench (Division Bench or Single Judge) during
that month which have been allocated to the different tracks. The details
shall be placed before the Chief Justice or Committee nominated for that
purpose as well as the concerned Judge dealing with the cases.
3. The Judge or Judges referred to in clause (2) above may shift the case from
one track to another, depending upon the complexity (urgency) and other
circumstances of the case.
1-. Where computerization is available, data will be fed into the computer in
such a manner that the court or judge or judges, referred to in clause (2)
above will be able to ascertain the position and stage of every case in every
track from the computer screen.
 Whenever the roster changes, the judge concerned who is dealing with
final matters shall keep himself informed about the stage of the cases in
various tracks listed before him during every week, with a view to seeing
that the cases are taken up early.
Other matters : The High Court shall also divide civil appeals and other
matters in the High Court into different tracks on the lines indicated in
sub-clauses (2) to (5) above and the said clauses shall apply, mutatis
mutandis, to the civil appeals filed in the High Court. The High Court shall
make a subject wise division of the appeals/revision application for
allocation into different tracks. (Division of criminal petitions and appeals
into different tracks is dealt with separately under the heading 'criminal
petitions and appeals')

[. Writ of Habeas Corpus:

Notices in respect of Writ of Habeas Corpus where the person is in custody
under orders of a State Government or Central Government shall invariably
be issued by the Court at the first listing and shall be made returnable
within 48 hours. State Government or Central Government may file a brief
return enclosing the relevant documents to justify the detention. The matter
shall be listed after notice on the fourth working day after issuance of
notice, and the Court shall consider whether a more detailed return to the
writ is necessary, and, if so required, shall give further time of a week and
three days' time for filing a rejoinder. A Writ of Habeas Corpus shall
invariably be disposed of within a period of fifteen days. It shall have
preference over and above Fast Track cases.

[I. Mode of Advance Service:

The Court rules will provide for mode of service of notice on the standing
counsel for respondents wherever available, against whom, interim orders
are sought. Such advance service shall generally relate to Governments or
public sector undertakings that have standing counsel.

FIRST APPEALS TO HIGH COURT

Service of Notice of Appeal:

First appeals being appeals on questions offact and law, Courts are generally
inclined to admit the appeal and it is only in exceptional cases that the
appeal is rejected under Order XLI Rule 11 at the admission stage. In view
of the amended CPC, a copy of the appeals is required to be filed in the
Trial Court. It has been clarified by the Supreme Court that the requirement
of filing of appeal in the Trial Court does not mean that the party cannot
file an appeal in the Appellate Court (High Court) immediately for obtaining
interim orders.
·500/2008 -4-

In addition to the process for normal service as per the Code of Civil ".
Procedure, advance notice should simultaneously be given by the counsel
for the party who is proposing to file the appeal, to the counsel for the
opposite party in the Trial Court itself so as to enable them to inform the
parties to appear if they so choose even at the first hearing stage.
Filing of Documents:
The Appellant shall, on the appeal being admitted, file all the essential
papers within such period as may be fixed by the High Court for the purpose
of enabling the High Court to understand the scope of the dispute and for
the purpose of passing interlocutory orders.
Printing or typing of Paper Book:
Printing and preparation of paper-books by the High Court should be done
away with. After service of notice is effected, counsel for both sides should
agree on the list of documents and evidence to be printed or typed and the
same shall be made ready by the parties within the time to be fixed by the
Court. Thereafter the paper book shall be got ready. It must be assured
that the paper books are ready at least six months in advance before the
appeal is taken up for arguments. (Cause lists must specify if paper books
have been filed or not).
Filing of Written Submissions and time for oral arguments:
Both the appellants and the respondents shall be required to submit their
written submissions with all the relevant pages as per the Court paper-
book marked therein within a month of preparation of such paper-books,
referred to in para 3 above.

Cause list may indicate if written submissions have been filed. If

not, the court must direct that they be filed immediately.

After the written submissions are filed, (with due service of copy to
the other side) the matter should be listed before the Registrar/Master for
the parties to indicate the time that will be taken for arguments in the
appeal. Alternatively, such matters may be listed before ajudge in chamber
for deciding the time duration and thereafter to fix a date of hearing on a
clear date when the requisite extent of time will be available.

In the event that the matter is likely to take a day or more, the High
Court may consider having a Caution List/Alternative List to meet
eventualities where a case gets adjourned due to unavoidable reasons or
does not go on before a Court, and those cases may be listed before a
Court where, for one reason or another, the scheduled cases are not taken
up for hearing.

Court may explore possibility of settlement:

At the first hearing of a First Appeal when both parties appear, the Court
shall find out if there is a possibility of a settlemen 1. If the parties are
 agreeable even at that stage for mediation or conciliation, the High Court
could make a reference to mediation or conciliation for the said purpose.

If necessary, the process contemplated by Section 89 of Cf'C may be

resorted to by the Appellate Court so, however, that the hearing of the
appeal is not unnecessarily delayed. Whichever is the ADR process adopted,
the Court should fix a date for a report on the ADR two months from the
dare of reference.

r. Appeals to Division Bench from judgement of Single Judge of High Court

(Letter Patent Appeals (LPA) or similar appeals under High Court Acts):

An appeal to a Division Bench from judgement of a Single Judge

may lie in the following cases:

1) Appeals from interlocutory orders of the Single Judge in original jurisdiction

matters including writs; (2) appeals from final judgements of a Single Judge in
original jurisdiction; (3) other appeals permitted by any law to a Division Bench.

Appeals against interlocutory orders falling under category (1) above

should be invariably filed after advance notice to the opposite counsel (who
has appeared before the Single Judge) so that both the sides are represented
at the very first hearing of the appeals. If both parties appear at the first
hearing, there is no need to serve the opposite side by normal process and
at least in some cases, the appeals against interlocutory orders can be
disposed of even at the first hearing. If, for any reason, this is not practicable,
such appeals against interim orders should be disposed of within a period
of a month.

In cases referred to above, necessary documents should be kept ready

by the counsel to enable the Court to dispose of the appeal against
interlocutory matter at the first hearing itself.

In all appeals against interim orders in the High Court, in writs and
Civil matters, the Court should endeavour to set down and observe a strict
time limit in regard to oral arguments. In case of Original Side appeals/
LPAs arising out of final orders in a Writ Petition or arising out of Civil
suits filed in the High Court, a flexible time schedule may be followed.

The practice direction in regard to First Appeal should mutatis

mutandis apply in respect of LPAs/Original Side appeals against final
judgements of the Single Judge.

Writ Appeals/Letters Patent Appeals arising from orders of the Single

Judge in a Writ Petition should be filed with simultaneous service on the
500/2008 - 6-

counsel for the opposite party who had appeared before the Single Judge
or service on the opposite party.

Writ Appeals against interim orders of the Single Judge should

invariably be disposed of early and, at any rate, within a period of thirty
days from the first hearing. Before Writ Appeals against final orders in
Writ Petitions are heard, brief written submissions must be filed by both
parties within such time as may be fixed by the Court.

Second Appeals:
Even at the stage of admission, the questions of law with a brief synopsis
and written submissions on each of the propositions should be filed so as
to enable the Court to consider whether there is a substantial question of
law. Wherever the Court is inclined to entertain the appeal, apart from
normal procedure for service as per rules, advance notice shall be given to
the counsel who had appeared in the first appeal letter Court. The notice
should require the respondents to file their written submissions within a
period of eight weeks from service of notice. Efforts should be made to
complete the hearing of the Second Appeals within a period of six months.

Civil Revision :
A revision petition may be filed under Section 115 of the Code or under
any special statute. In some High Courts, petitions under Article 227 of
the Constitution of India are registered as civil revision petitions. The
practice direction in regard to LPAs and First Appeals to the High Courts,
should mutatis mutandis apply in respect of revision petitions.

L Criminal Appeals :
Criminal Appeals should be classified based on offence, sentence and
whether the accused is on bailor in jail. Capital punishment cases, rape,
sexual offences, dowry death cases should be kept in Track I. Other cases
where the accused is not granted bail and is in jail should be kept in Track
II. Ca-ses, which affect a large number of persons such as cases of mass
cheating, economic offences, illicit liquor tragedy, food adulteration cases,
offences of sensitive nature should be kept in Track III. Offences, which
are tried by special courts such as POTA, TADA, NDPS, Prevention of
Corruption Act, etc., should be kept in Track IV. All other offences should
be kept in Track V.

The endeavour should be to complete Track I cases within a period

of six months, Track II cases within nine months, Track III within a year,
Track IV and Track V within fifteen months.

Wherever an appeal is filed by a person injail, and also when appeals

are filed by the State, the complete paper-books including the evidence,
should be filed by the State within such period as may be fixed by Court.
 In appeals against acquittals, steps for appointment of amicus curiae
or State Legal Aid Counsel in respect of the accused who do not have a
lawyer of their own should be undertaken by the Registry/State Legal
Services Authority immediately after completion of four weeks of service of
notice. It shall be presumed that in such an event the accused is not in a
position to appoint counsel, and within two weeks thereafter a counsel
shall be appointed and shall be furnished all the papers.

Note:
Wherever there is any inconsistency between these rules and the provisions
of either the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 or the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1973 or the High Court Act, or any other statute, the provisions of such
Codes and statute shall prevaiL·· .

By Order,

C.R. Sarma,
Registrar General.

Published and Issued by Controller, Printing &Stationery Department, Government ofMizoram

Printed atthe Mizoram Government Press, Aizawl. C/70D