Civil litigation means litigation relating to all types of property or position rights. Civil litigation deals with the right to common immovable or movable property or petition.
The Civil Procedure Code has how civil litigation will proceed from inception to disposal. In 1908 The Civil Procedure Code was formulated. The Code of civil procedure is procedural law.
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Classifications of Civil Courts
According to Section 3 of the Civil Courts Act, 18, there are five types of civil courts in Bangladesh.
- District Judge Court.
- Additional District Judge Court.
- Joint District Judge Court.
- Senior Assistant Judge Court.
- Assistant Judge Court.
The highest civil court of a district is the District Judge’s Court. Then in order from bottom to top.
After that, the highest court in the country is Bangladesh Supreme Court. The two divisions of the Supreme Court. Appellate Division and High Court Division.
Jurisdictions of Civil Courts
There are five types of Jurisdiction of civil courts Jurisdiction.
- Subject matter jurisdiction.
- Regional jurisdiction.
- Pecuniary jurisdiction.
- The original jurisdiction.
- The appellate jurisdiction.
Subject matter jurisdiction refers to the subject matter of a civil court trial. Civil courts will not hear cases related to any criminal matter. So have to keep an eye on the subject of your civil litigation when you go to file civil litigation.
Regional jurisdiction is a fundamental issue in filing civil litigation. You will need to file a lawsuit in a civil court with jurisdiction over where the subject matter of your civil litigation or where the suit originated.
(Example: There is a dispute over your land. Suppose the disputed land is in the Tangail district. So if you want to sue for that land, you have to sue in Tangail district civil court. You cannot sue in Dhaka district civil court even if you’re going to. )
Pecuniary jurisdiction is the jurisdiction of a civil court over how valuable civil litigation can be. According to the Civil Courts (Amendment) Act, 2021, the Assistant Judge’s Court can hear points valued at a minimum of Tk 1 and a maximum of Tk 15 lakh.
The Senior Assistant Judge Court will hear litigation valued at a minimum of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.
The Joint District Judge’s Court can hear litigation of infinite value from Rs 25 lakh. These three courts directly judge matters according to the value of the case.
The original jurisdiction is the process of filing litigation in a specific court according to the value of the civil litigation. According to Section 15 of the Civil Procedure Code, one must file civil litigation in the lowest civil court.
According to the above discussion, the original jurisdiction means to file litigation in a court with pecuniary jurisdiction by calculating the litigation’s value.
District and Additional District Judge Courts have no original jurisdiction. It refers to no civil litigation that can file directly in these two courts. However, except for civil litigations, these two courts have direct jurisdiction.
The appellate jurisdiction is the jurisdiction to appeal to any court against the court’s judgment, order, or decree having original or original jurisdiction.
Appeal against the judgment or degree given by the Assistant Judge, Senior Assistant Judge, and Joint District Judge Court to the District Judge Court. Requests worth one to five crore rupees in the district judge’s court.
Since the Joint District Judge’s Court has jurisdiction to hear cases of infinite value from twenty-five lacs because the High Court has jurisdiction over appeals worth more than five crore rupees, the Additional District Judge Court has no original jurisdiction or appellate jurisdiction. He can only hear the Appeal of the appeal case filed by the District Judge.
Filed a civil case through Plaint
Section 28 of the Civil Procedure Code states that one must file every civil litigation through plaint presentation.
Rule No. 1 of Order 4 of the Civil Procedure Code that every civil litigation has to be in the civil court through the appearance of the Plaint.
You can’t plead you are innocent and not guilty due to ignorance of the law.
Besides, it has to submit the exact copy of the objection to the defendant to issue a Summon.
When filing civil litigation through Plaint, the court fee prescribed for issuing a summon against the defendant has to be in the sub-rule of rule 1 (1a).
Moreover, in the case of filing plaint, the details of the 6th and 7th order rules have also been discussed.
Summons against the defendant after filing a civil litigation
After filing civil litigation through Plaint, the main task of the plaintiff is to give a summons to the defendant.
Section 27 of the Civil Procedure Code mentions summoning the respondent.
How to issue Summons and the rules for issuing Summons to the respondent described the various Rule of Order 5.
According to the general rules, the court issues summons against the defendant within five days of filing the case.
The primary purpose of issuing Summons is to inform the respondent about the litigation and respond to the plaintiff’s plea.
Submit written statement after receiving the Summons
The third stage of civil litigation is submitting a written statement description or objection.
After receiving the respondent’s Summons or being self-aware, he will give an adequately written statement to the court in answer to the Plaint.
The order contains a detailed description of how to respond in writing.
In such a written statement, the respondent has a provision to give a written statement within thirty working days to support his defense.
In some cases, it can extend the time. Defendant has to submit a written statement within a maximum of 60 days.
In the written statement, the respondent will raise the ground in support of the dismissal of the litigation and must explicitly.
Civil litigation sent for mediation
After the court accepts the plea and a written statement of the plaintiff-defendant, the court may, if it so desires, send the litigation for mediation, or the court may mediate the case itself by adjourning the hearing.
In addition, the Legal Aid Officer may refer the litigation to an arbitrator where the court deems it appropriate, based on the views of both parties’ attorneys or the parties.
Arbitration and arbitration in detail in sections 69 (a), (b), and (c) of the Civil Procedure Code. If the litigation goes through arbitration, the court will announce the degree or judgment on that basis.
Issue frame or determination of issues
Mediation is not mandatory. If the parties do not want to mediate, the court will decide the issue of the case, which we know as issue framing. The 14 Order of the Civil Procedure Code deals with the issue framing.
What is to in a particular case is determined by the composition of the issue.
Discovery and information in civil litigation
At this stage of the civil litigation, the court may at any time, on its initiative or at the request of any party, issue and answer questions about the litigation, acknowledge and acknowledge the documents and information and all other important matters relating to disclosure, inspection, submission, interpolation or extradition or other essential issues.
Such civil courts give such orders. Moreover, may send Summons to those who need to appear for testimony or submission of documents or any of the above.
Final hearing in the civil litigation
Before the final hearing, the court will hear both the parties’ lawyers’ arguments and fix a date for the final hearing.
At the last hearing, the court began taking evidence in the litigation. The court will continue to take evidence at this stage of the civil litigation.
If the testimony is in one day, set a date for re-testimony. After taking evidence, the court will hold a re-hearing or further hearing at this stage. At the end of the hearing, the court will set a date for the argument.
Giving arguments, Judgement, and decrees
Argumentation is at the very last stage in civil litigations. After taking evidence in the case and further hearing, the lawyers of both parties will present arguments.
After the argument is over, the court will set a date for the Judgement. Section 33 of the Civil Procedure Code states that the court will announce the Judgement after hearing the litigation and issue a decree based on the judgment.
Details on how and when to give judgment and decree in various rules of Order 20 of the Civil Procedure Code. A civil lawsuit out of court.
Why does it take so long to settle civil litigation?
There is a proverb, “Justice Delayed, Justice Denied,” whose Bengali judgment is meaningless even if it.
Those aware of civil litigations or issues know that civil litigation lasts for 10 to 20 years.
One of the primary matters for the delay in settling civil litigations is the lack of awareness of the parties to the litigation and lack of proper lobbying.
Many times after one party files litigation for harassment against the other party, they repeatedly apply for a time in the court, due to which more time is required to settle the case.
Moreover, there are few judges or tribunals in civil litigations in Bangladesh. Due to this, hearing each civil litigation is a few months later.
The parties to the case often appeal against various orders in civil litigation, revising the original litigation. Due to these reasons, it takes many years to settle civil litigation.
Our advice
We never encourage direct civil litigation. In the first place, if there is a case or problem with any issue, then the first thing to do is to try to resolve it with the help of local dignitaries.
If the solution, then tries to find a solution by forming a panel consisting of lawyers who practice a few civil practices.
If the matter or complications arise, you can file litigation in civil court.
If a civil issue is through mediation, it is to the benefit of both parties. If there is a case in the civil court, there will be a financial, physical, and mental hamper to both parties.
So before filing civil litigation, you must try to resolve it socially.
You can read this article also Bengali: How civil litigation are filed and disposed of.