12 Kolkata: Calcutta High Court has set out timelines for case records to be transferred from the trial courts to the HC to cut down on delays.
To reduce the growing case pendency due to delays in case record transmission, the high court has set a time-frame of 30 days within which trial courts must dispatch the case records, and 15 days in cases of appeals from conviction under Section 415 (4) of BNSS.
For appeals under Section 415 (4) BNSS, verification has to be done within seven days. Paper books should be prepared within seven days thereafter so that the appeal may be disposed of within six months from filing.
Section 415 of BNSS outlines the right of appeal for people convicted of various crimes, and sub-section 4 states that an appeal filed against a sentence passed under sections of BNS dealing with punishment for offences like rape should be disposed of within a period of six months from the date of filing the appeal.
The division bench of justices Joymalya Bagchi and Subhendu Samanta on Feb 5 passed additional practice directions stating the time-frame, which was otherwise not prescribed, for the dispatch of trial court records to HC.
According to the justice clock for Calcutta High Court, there is a pendency of 1,85,257 cases to date. The data provided by the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) shows that there is a pendency of 12,000 in appeal cases under the conviction section.
"On a number of occasions, this court has noted that there is a delay in the transmission of trial court records to the high court, resulting in the delay of preparation of paper books. This contributes to the delay in the disposal of appeals," the division bench noted.
The practice directions include trial courts dispatching case records in physical form within 30 days from receipt of communication from the HC. In case of delay, they must submit an application to the registrar general, who would place the same before the bench hearing the case. The department, within 15 days, will inspect the records and place a report before the bench in case of any defect. In case of any rectification, the same would be done within the time prescribed by the concerned bench.
"These practice directions are in addition to the rules framed by this court with regards to the preparation of paper books. After verification, departments shall prepare paper books within four weeks of verification of the records," the bench stated.
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