Civil Procedure Code Amendment To Provide Speedy Justice

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: The Parliament has amended the Code vide Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2002. The amendment in Code was done in 1999 also, but the said amendments were not made effective. Both the amendment acts, which became effective from 1st July 2002, taken together intend to bring in virtually certain radical changes. After a long wait and struggle, the Central Government has managed to effect some very significant and path breaking changes in the Code aiming to simplify the procedure and reduce the delays.

Some of the main highlights of the two amendment acts are:

Institution Of Suits
The Amendment Act of 1999 has inserted a new sub-section to section 26, whereby it has become mandatory that all the facts mentioned in the plaint are proved by way of an affidavit. Therefore, at the time of institution of a suit, now the plaint will have to be accompanied by an affidavit.

Summons To Defendants
Section 27 of the Code provides for the issue of summons to the defendants in a suit to appear and answer the claim in the suit. Earlier, the section did not provide any time limit for the plaintiff to serve the summons on the defendants. That resulted in the suits instituted decades ago being still at the preliminary stage because the plaintiffs failed to serve summons on the defendants. The Amendment Act of 1999, has plugged this loophole by providing that the defendants must be served with summons within 30 days of institution of the suit.

Alternate Dispute Resolution
This is one of the most radical changes introduced in the Code. There was no such provision earlier. According to a newly introduced section 89, the Courts have been given the power to refer the disputes to:

a) Arbitration;
b) Conciliation;
c) Judicial settlement including settlement through Lok Adalat;
d) Mediation.

The Court will endeavour in case of such disputes to formulate the terms of settlement between the parties and will also effect a compromise as per the prescribed procedure.

No Further Appeal/No Second Appeal
The scope of section 100A has been widened so far as restriction on right of further appeal is concerned. According to the amended provision, now appeal arising out of an original order / decree, which is heard and decided by a single Judge, is also covered by this restriction.