SUBORDINATION OF COURTS (SECTION 3)

                                SUBORDINATION OF COURTS (SECTION 3)

Meaning of Subordination:

·        The term ‘subordinate’ means lower-in-rank or inferior in authority or power.

·        A Court inferior in authority to another Court is called its “ Subordinate Court.”

·     A Court may be inferior in respect of the value of matters it is competent to try. A Court may also be inferior in respect of the geographical extent to which its authority extends.

·        The inferior Court functions under the superintendence of the superior Court.

·        Section 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 deals with the hierarchy of the Courts.

·        It categorically declares which Courts are subordinate Courts; and the Courts to which they are subordinate.

                                 Bare Language of Section 3

·     “For the purposes of this Code, the District Court is subordinate to the High Court, and every Civil Court of a grade inferior to that of a District Court and every Court of Small Causes is subordinate to the High Court and District Court.”

·        The list of Subordinate Courts in Section 3 is not exhaustive or exclusive and therefore more Courts can be added to the list of subordinate Courts mentioned in it.

·        The expression “Civil Court” under section 3 of CPC includes Revenue Courts as well.

·        The Court of Additional District Judge is not subordinate to the District Court under this section.

Different Rulings of Different High Courts

·        Where there are different rulings of different High Courts on a particular point, then in that time a subordinate judge should follow the decision in law of that High Court to which he is subordinate, unless the decision has been overruled subsequently by decisions of that High Court or unless it has been overruled expressly or impliedly on an appeal by the Supreme Court or unless the law has been altered by a subsequent Act of the Legislature.

·        The decisions of a High Court are binding on all the Tribunals or authorities including administrative tribunals which are subject to its superintendence under Article 227 of the Constitution. [East India Commercial Co. vs. Collector of Customs AIR 1962 SC 1893].

Supreme Court

Indian Courts must follow the decisions of the Supreme Court of India even though they are opposed to the decisions of the Privy Council of the House of Lords because Article 141 of the Constitution of India makes it binding on all the Courts. The Supreme Court is not bound by the decisions of the Privy Council or Federal Court and is also free to reconsider its own decisions. [Bengal Immunity Co. vs. State of Bihar AIR 1955 SC 661].