INTRODUCTION

Jurisdiction of court is simply power of court to settle the matter. The Indian Judiciary has invoked the ancient legal maxim ‘Ubi jus Ibi Remedium’, which means that where there is a right there is a remedy. The judicial forum must have jurisdiction to deal with the matter. Hence, the Jurisdiction commonly rests where the crime is committed.

MEANING OF JURISDICTION

Jurisdiction is defined as the limit of judicial authority or extent to which a court of law can exercise its authority over suits, cases, appeals etc. A 1921 Calcutta High Court judgment in the case of Hriday Nath Roy Vs Ram Chandra sought to explain the meaning of the term ‘Jurisdiction’ in detail.

COURTS AND TRIBUNAL

LACK OF JURISDCTION and IRREGULAR EXERCISE OF COURTS

Whenever the suit is made before the court the initial issue is to decide whether the court has jurisdiction to deal with the matter. If the court has all the three territorial, pecuniary or subject matter jurisdiction then simply the court has the power to deal with any of the cases. If the court does not have any of the jurisdictions then it will be recognized as lack of jurisdiction and irregular exercise of jurisdiction.

BASIS TO DETERMINE JURISDICTION

Jurisdiction in determined on the following grounds:

1. Fiscal value

2. Geographical boundaries of court

3. Subject matter of courts

KINDS OF JURISDICTION

Territorial or local jurisdiction

Under this territorial or local jurisdiction, the geographical limits of a court’s authority are clearly delineated and specified. It cannot exercise authority beyond that geographical/ territorial limit. For example, if a certain crime is committed in Madhya Pradesh, only the courts of law within the borders of Madhya Pradesh can hear and decide the case. Furthermore, Section 16 of the Code of Civil Procedure explains the territorial jurisdiction on the grounds of the location of the immovable property. In the case of Harshad Chiman Lal Modi Vs D.L.F Universal Ltd , the court interpreted Section 16 that the suit pertaining to immovable property should be brought to the court. The court does not have the power to decide the rights of property which are not situated. However, the court can still pass a relief if the opposite party agrees to try the suit in such a case.

Pecuniary jurisdiction

Pecuniary means ‘related to capital.’ It approaches the question of whether the court is competent to try the case of the financial value. The code allows analyzing the case unless the suit’s value exceeds the financial limit of the court. Section 15 of the Code of Civil Procedure commands the organization of the suit in the court of the low grade. It refers to pecuniary jurisdiction of civil court. It is a course of the method and it does not affect the jurisdiction of the court. The main objective of establishing pecuniary jurisdiction is to prevent the court of a higher level from getting burdened and to provide assistance to the parties. However, the court shall interfere if it finds the judgment to be wrong. For example, ’A ’wants to accuse ‘B’ due to a violation of the contract to obtain Rs 5000 in Bombay. The Bombay High Court has original jurisdiction and small cause’s court with the jurisdiction up to Rs 50000. So, a suit to obtain Rs 5000 should ideally be dealt with small causes court. In the case of Karan Singh Vs Chaman Paswan the plaintiff filed a suit in the subordinate court involving an amount of  Rs 2950, but the court rejected the case. Later his next appeal was allowed by the High Court, but it ordered him to pay the deficit amount. The appellant contested that the decision of the district court will be a nullity, but the High Court dismissed the claim. Later the Supreme Court confirmed the decision of the High Court declaring that the decision of district court won’t be void.

Jurisdiction as to the subject matter

The subject matter can be defined as the authority vested in a court to understand and try cases concerning a special type of subject matter. In other words, it means that some courts are banned from hearing cases of a certain nature. No question of choices can be decided by the court which do not have subject matter jurisdiction. Section 21 of the Code of Civil Procedure is related to the stage challenging the jurisdiction. For Example, “Ranveer”, a resident of Sonipat bought a food item of ‘AA’ brand that was plagued with pests. He should prosecute ‘ZZ’ company in Sonipat District forum rather than District Civil Court of Sonipat.

Original and appellate jurisdiction

Appellate jurisdiction refers to the court’s authority to review or rehearsal the cases that have been already decided in the lower courts. In the Indian circumstances, both the High Court and Supreme Court have the appellate jurisdiction to take the subjects that are bought in the form of appeals.

Original Jurisdiction refers to the court’s authority to take notice of cases that could be decided in these courts in the first instance itself. Unlike appellate jurisdiction wherein courts review the previously decided matter, here the cases are heard afresh.

Exclusive and concurrent jurisdiction

In Civil Procedure, exclusive jurisdiction means where a single court has the authority to decide a case to the rejection of all the courts. This jurisdiction is decided on the basis of the subject matter dealt with by a specific court. For example, the U.S District courts have particular jurisdiction on insolvency topics.

Concurrent jurisdiction exists where two or more courts from different systems simultaneously have jurisdiction over a particular case. In this situation, parties will try to have their civil or criminal case heard in the court that they perceive will be most favorable to them.

General and special jurisdiction

General jurisdiction means that general courts do not limit themselves to hearing only one type of cases. This type of jurisdiction means that a court has the power to hear all types of cases. So the court that has general jurisdiction can hear criminal, civil, family court case and much more.

Specific jurisdiction is the ability of the court to hear a lawsuit in a state other than the defendant’s home state if that defendant has minimum contacts within the state where the suit will be tried.

Legal and equitable jurisdiction

Equitable jurisdiction belongs to the authorities of the courts to take specific actions and pass some orders in order to deliver an equitable and reasonable outcome. These judgments are usually outside the purview of law, in the sense that support provided by the courts may not be necessarily confirmed by the statue. In the case of K.K.Velusamy Vs N.Palanisamy, the Supreme Court of India held that Section 151 does not give any special jurisdiction to civil courts, but only presents for the application of discretionary power to achieve the ends of justice. This suggests that the court cannot give any such order which may be denied under any law in such an order that may be prohibited under any law in order to achieve the ends of justice. This would lead to the conclusion that such equitable jurisdiction is secondary to the authority of the courts to implement the law.

Expounding and expanding jurisdiction

Expounding jurisdiction means to describe, clarify and explain jurisdiction. Expanding jurisdiction means to develop, expand or prolong jurisdiction. It is the duty of the court to clarify its jurisdiction and it is not proper for the court to extend its jurisdiction.

CONCLUSION

Civil court has jurisdiction to investigate whether tribunal and quasi-judicial bodies or legal executive acted within their jurisdiction. It can be presumed that section 9 essentially deals with the issue of the civil court’s jurisdiction to consider a matter. Civil court has jurisdiction to consider a suit of civil nature except when its notification is expressly barred or bared by significant suggestion. Civil court has jurisdiction to resolve the problem of its jurisdiction.

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