Last Updated on June 21, 2024 by Satish Mishra
Punjab and Haryana High Court is situated in Sector 1 Chandigarh and is one of the most visited places of the city for tourists. It’s a dream for every young lawyer like me (though my hairs are turning grey) to practice at High Court Chandigarh, such is the reputation of this prestigious institution managing justice disbursal system across all the states of Punjab and Haryana and finally Chandigarh.
Now, coming to post. FAQ’s related to Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh. Why I am writing about it though it is readily available on the website of High Court Chandigarh?
Here is the link before I give explanation: https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?trs=faq
Explanation- if you have any query related to High Court of Punjab and Haryana then there is no better resource than this. Why I am writing on this is, that the QnA is all in form of questions as seen in image below and for every answer to read, you have to click one by one.
Here I am reducing your clicks and giving you all the information on one single page. Not a big job but still a small little difference here I am trying to make. Hope you appreciate it. Straight to FAQ’s now.
1. Are there any Rules or Guidelines for filing a Public Interest Litigation in the Punjab & Haryana High Court?
A Public Interest Litigation can be filed in the High Court in terms of the Maintainability of Public Interest Litigation Rules, 2010 (See Vol.V, Chapter-1 Part A(c).
2. What are the official hours of working of the High Court Staff ?
The official working hours of the High Court Staff are from 09.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with half an hour break from 1.00 p.m. to 1.30 p.m. on all week’s days, except second Saturday & fourth Saturday
3. What are the working hours of Courts ?
The working hours of the Courts are from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. with 45 minutes break from 1.00 p.m. to 1.45 p.m. from Monday to Friday. Courts also hold sittings on Saturday declared as working day in the Calendar of High Court. The timing during summer vacations is notified before the start of vacations.
4. What is the time fixed for filing of judicial cases and where such cases can be filed?
Judicial cases on all working days can be filed between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The petitions with prayer to list as Urgent Case is required to be filed between 10 A.M to 12 A.M. in the registry branch called DRR. (see Rules 1 & 2 Chapter 1 Part A, High court Rules and Orders Volume V).
5. What is the procedure adopted by High Court for listing of cases?
Every urgent petition filed before 12:00 a.m. is listed for hearing next day, whereas the ordinary cases are listed in due course for motion hearing.
6. What is the difference between urgent cases and ordinary cases?
Urgent cases are those cases wherein a prayer for grant of bail, anticipatory bail, stay, transfer of the case(s) or any interim order is made. Such petitions are required to be accompanied by an urgent form containing prayer for urgent listing. All other cases are treated as ordinary cases, except the writ petitions and the appeals under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1956 & the Family Courts Act.
7. How the cases after admission are listed for regular hearing?
Cases for regular hearing are listed ordinarily in order of the date of admission/year of institution. However, special order cases are listed as per directions passed in such cases by the Court during the course of hearing (See Rule 6, Chapter 3-A, High Court Rules and Orders, Vol.5).
8. Who is overall Incharge of Judicial Branches ?
Registrar (Judicial) and in his absence Joint Registrar(Judicial). Besides, Deputy Registrars and Assistant Registrars are also supervising the judicial branches.
9. What is cause list?
Cause list contains the details of cases listed for hearing on a particular date. It is of three types i.e. Urgent cause list, motion cause list and regular list. In urgent cause list only those cases are listed which are filed before 12:00 a.m. with an urgent form containing prayer for urgent listing and involve stay matters, anticipatory bail matters, regular bail matters, transfer application or any urgent interim directions sought from the Court.
In the motion list, all cases wherein notice of motion has been issued or cases which do not fall in the category of urgent cases, are listed. Both these lists are issued/uploaded on internet a day prior to date of listing.
So far as regular list is concerned, it is issued periodically, especially when Roster is changed and contains the cases for hearing lying admitted. Urgent motion cases are listed as serial number 101 onward whereas motion cases are listed as serial number 201 onward and regular cases are listed as 301 onward in the respective lists. In addition to these lists, one list is issued which is called ‘taken up list’ wherein the cases to be taken out of the regular list by the Court on a particular date are shown.
10. What is Roster and where it is available?
Roster is a sitting arrangement of Hon’ble Judges in various Benches dealing with various categories of cases assigned to such Benches. Roster remains always available on the High Court official website i.e. www.highcourtchd.gov.in
11. What type of petitions/application could be directly filed in the high court?
High Court entertains petitions under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India; Election Petitions under the representation of Peoples Act, 1951;for transfer of cases civil as well as criminal from one district to another. Under the Companies Act, petitions directly also lie to the High Court for winding up, amalgamation etc. Applications for grant of protection of life and liberty and quashing of FIRs filed under section 482 Cr.P.C. are also entertained.
12. What type of cases are entertained by the High Court while exercising Appellate/Revisional Jurisdiction?
High Court while exercising Civil Appellate Jurisdiction entertains Regular Second Appeals, Regular First Appeals, First Appeal against order passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal or Under the Hindu Marriage Act or any other Act where appeal is provided to the High Court, second appeal against orders, execution first appeal, execution second appeal and Civil revisions challenging interim orders passed by the Courts below or the orders which are final in nature under the various Acts by the Courts below. Under Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction, High Court entertains Criminal Appeals provided under Cr.P.C. or any other Act to the High Court, murder references, criminal revisions against the orders of Courts below or petitions under Section 482 (exercising inherent power) challenging orders of Courts below which are interim in nature. In addition to above, Letters Patent Appeal against the order of Single Judge, passed while exercising original jurisdiction as well as company appeals are also entertained.
13. How to find out status/ filing of a case?
From the Website of High Court i.e. www.highcourtchd.gov.in logging on ‘Case Status’ or from the touch screens installed in the High Court premises or through SMS. The personal enquiry from the branch concerned, is the last resort.
14. Sometimes, the summons contain an endorsement after the date Farzi, what does it mean?
The date with endorsement Farzi is the tentative date for hearing and is meant for completion of the service. Such date is generally given in a case admitted for regular hearing and on completion of the service and on receipt of the records of the courts below, wherever necessary, the cases are posted for hearing on their own turns, in accordance with the Rules.
15. Why sometimes case wherein actual date is fixed is not listed and what to do in such eventuality?
It happens because of some clerical mistake. Bring it to the notice of Registrar (Judicial) who will get the same listed.
16. What is the procedure the getting the cases listed on the same day ?
Such matters are mentioned before the Bench so designated as per Roster and the Bench hearing the mentioning after considering the urgency involved, orders the listing of the case on the same day.
17. Whether the judgments passed by the high court are available on High Court website?
Yes. Log on to www.highcourtchd.gov.in and then click on “Judgments” where one can search for the judgment/final order by entering party names; case number; date of decision; text or judge name wise etc.
18. Whether the interim orders passed in each case are available on the website of High Court?
The Interim orders are available on the High Court Website on the following link.
19. Where are complete Rules provided for inspection of cases, obtaining of certified copies/filing of cases in the high court?
High Court Rules and Orders Volume V contains complete Rules for filing, categorization, listing, inspection and procedure for obtaining certified copies etc. Such Rules are available on the website of the High Court.
20. What is Letters Patent Appeal; limitation provided for filing Letters Patent Appeal and court fee leviable ?
Letters Patent Appeal is an appeal to a Division Bench filed against the order passed by a Single Judge of the High Court. It is filed under Clause X of the Letters Patent. Limitation provided for filing such appeal is thirty days and court fee leviable is Rs.5-25np. Such appeal lies only against order passed in Civil Writ petitions.
21. What is Regular First Appeal; limitation for filing such appeal and court fee leviable thereon?
Regular First Appeal lies to the high Court against the decree or award executable as decree passed by the District Judge/Addl.Distt. Judge against which appeal is not barred. Regular First Appeals lie against the award passed in Land Acquisition cases; limitation provided is 90 days and court fee leviable is Rs.100/-.Certified copy of award/judgment and decree appealed from is necessary to be filed.
22. What is Regular Second Appeal; limitation provided for filing Regular Second Appeal and court fee leviable?
Regular Second Appeal is an appeal against the judgment and decree passed by the lower appellate court in a suit. It is filed under section 100 CPC on a substantial question of law(to be formulated in the grounds of appeal ).Limitation provided is 90 days and court fee is leviable on the basis of valuation of claim involved in the appeal which is assessed as per section 7 of the Punjab Court Fee Act. Certified copies of the judgments of both the courts below and decree of lower appellate court is necessary to be filed.
23. What is civil Revision; limitation provided for its filing and court fee leviable?
Civil Revisions are entertained under Section 115 CPC against those final/interim orders of courts below against which no appeal is provided. Limitation provided is 90 days and court fee leviable is Rs.25.00 NP. Civil Revisions are also entertained under Article 227 of the Constitution of India. Under the Rent Acts also civil revisions lie. Under Punjab Act no limitation is provided whereas under Haryana Act limitation is 90 days and court fee leviable is Rs.50/-.
24. What is FAO; limitation for its filing and court fee leviable on such appeal?
FAO is entertained against those orders (which do not fall within the definition of decree) passed by the Courts below against which an appeal is provided direct to the High Court. The limitation provided under the Act for filing of FAOs against the orders of Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, under the Hindu Marriage Act or Arbitration and Conciliation Act is 90 days whereas under the Workmen Compensation Act is 60 days and court fee leviable is as per Court Fees Act.
25. What is the limitation provided for filing of criminal appeals, criminal revisions and Crl. Misc under Section 482 Cr.P.C.?
For filing of criminal appeal, the limitation is 60 days; criminal revision is 90 days and there is no limitation provided for filing criminal Misc. applications under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure but such applications should be filed within a reasonable time and are entertained by the Court in view of the legal principals applicable.
26. What is the period of limitation for re-filing of civil appeals/civil revisions returned with objections by the High Court Office? Whether period of limitation for re-filing is applicable to criminal cases also?
Limitation for re-filing of civil appeal/revisions in aggregate is 40 days. Cases re-filed after the period of said limitation are required to be accompanied with an application for condonation of delay in re-filing the appeal/revision. In criminal cases there is no provision for refilling the same.
27. What is the procedure prescribed for inspection of judicial record?
The record of pending case can be inspected by the parties or counsel engaged/in communication with such parties on any working day by filing an application for inspection affixing thereon a court fee stamp of Rs 2/- for ordinary inspection which would be on the following day of moving application and in case record is to be inspected on same day, then court fee stamp of Rs.5/- has to be affixed on the application moved. No fee is charged for inspection of criminal cases, cases of indigent persons, cases where counsel provided by the court. Inspection of the case, if fixed for hearing, on same date can not be permitted without the permission of the Hon’ble Judge(s) before whom the case is pending. Inspection timing is from 10 a.m. to 4. p.m. Pen, ink or markers are not allowed for inspection. Only lead pencil can be used.
28. What is the procedure for supply of certified copies of judicial orders. What are the charge/cost to be paid for obtaining such copies?
For supply of certified copies, a litigant has to move an application affixing thereon a court fee stamp of Rs.2/-Three types of applications viz (i) express copy -application to be moved on day of the order or on the next working day. Minimum charges for such copy are Rs100/- upto 10 pages and thereafter Rs.10/- per page; (ii) Urgent copy- application can be moved on any working day and minimum charges for such copy are Rs.100/- upto 20 pages and Rs.5/- per page thereafter; (iii) Ordinary-application can be moved on any working day and minimum charges shall be Rs.50/- upto 10 pages and Rs. 2/- per page thereafter.
29. What is legal aid? How can one get access to it?
Legal aid means legal services provided at the expenses of the Government. It is provided to the needy underprivileged, abandoned, persons in judicial custody, and the people from the financially weaker sections of the Society, to file and defend cases on their behalf in the various Courts/Forums. One can move an application before the State Legal Services/District Legal Service Authorities concerned, besides, the High Court Legal Services Committee. For such services, one can contact the Front Office located on road leading to Main High Court Complex.
30. How the legal aid counsel is provided?
Within this High Court, the High Court Legal Services Committee maintains a panel of the Advocates. Upon receipt of any application seeking legal aid, the same is processed by the Office and examined by the Scrutiny Committee comprising Secretary, a Senior Advocate, nominated by the Hon’ble Chief Justice, as Patron-in-Chief and a Judicial Officer. Similarly, the Legal Services Authorities for the States of Punjab, Haryana and U.T., Chandigarh, also maintain their respective panels of Advocates. Advocates from such panels, are provided to the litigants i.e. underprivileged, abandoned, persons in judicial custody, and the people from the financially weaker sections of the Society, whenever required.
That’s it. 30 questions and you are done with it. But these pointers are must for every young Punjab and Haryana High Court lawyer to go through before practicing here. High Court Chandigarh is an architectural marvel and the accompanying museum speaks about the rich legacy of this judicial institution.
If you are a young law graduate, thinking to practice in High Court Chandigarh, then you must go through the above FAQ’s as this will give you a good understanding of the functioning of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
For more info related to subject, feel free to call 99888-17966. This is post is written by me; Advocate Satish Mishra practicing in Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh.
