- (1.) A petition Under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) was filed by the opposite party against the applicant in the court of the District Judge, Rampur. One of the pleas raised in defense by the applicant was that the District Judge had no jurisdiction to entertain the petition. An issue being issue No. i was framed on the basis of this plea and was decided by the District Judge by his order dated 10th October, 1985, against the applicant. The present revision has been filed against this order of the District Judge.
(2.) It has been urged by counsel for the applicant that since the State Government has issued a notification in the official gazette specifying the civil courts which all be " district court "' under the Act it is only the courts as specified in the notification which had the jurisdiction to entertain an application under the Act. I find it difficult to agree with this submission. The term ' district court ' has been defined in Section 3(b) of the Act. It reads: district court " means, in any area for which here is a city civil coust, that court, and in any other area the principal civil court of original jurisdiction, and includes any other civil court which may be specified by the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, as having jurisdiction in respect of the matters dealt with in this Act; District Rampur does not have any city civil court. Consequently the words "in any area for which there is a city civil court, that court" contained in the definition of the term "district court" are not relevant for the purposes of this case. According to the definition of the term "district court" in any area for which there is no city civil court the principal civil court of original jurisdiction shall be the "district court". In view of the later part of the definition of the term "district court' any other civil court which may be specified by the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, as having jurisdiction in respect of the matters dealt with in this Act " shall also be included within the meaning of the term " district court". In case the State Government chooses not to issue any notification contemplated by Section 3(b) of the Act it is the principal civil court of original jurisdiction which would be the "district court" within the meaning of the Act. If, however, a notification is issued the civil court or courts which may be specified in the notification shall in addition to the principal civil court of original jurisdiction come within the definition of term "district Court ". On the language of the term " district court " by no stretch of imagination it can be held that on the issue of a notification contemplated by Section 3(b) of the Act by the State Government the principal civil court of original jurisdiction shall cease to be " district court " and it is only the civil court or courts which may be specified by the State Government in the notification shall be the " district court ". Section 3 of the Bengal, Agra and Assam Civil Courts Act, 1887, specifies clauses of courts. It provides that there shall be the following classes of civil court under that Act, namely, 1) the Court of the District Judge ; 2) the Court of the Additional Judge; 3) the Court of the Civil Judge; 4) and the Court of the Munsif. Out of the four classes of civil court specified in Section 3 aforesaid the court of the District Judge will obviously be the principal civil court. That the District Judge also exercise original jurisdiction is apparent from Section 18 of the Bengal, Agra and Assam Civil Courts Act, 1887, which inter alias provides that save as otherwise provided by any enactment for the time being in force, the jurisdiction of a District Judge or Civil Judge extends, subject to the provisions of Section 15 of the Code of Code of Civil Procedure to all original suits for the time being cognizable by Civil Courts. According to Section 3(17) of the General Clauses Act "District Judge" shall mean the judge of a principal civil court of original jurisdiction. The District Judge would, therefore, be "the principal civil court of original Jurisdiction" within the meaning of Section 3(b) of the Act. He did not cease to be "district court" simply because the State Government issued a notification under the later part of Section 3(b) of the Act specifying some other civil courts " as having jurisdiction in respect of the matters dealt with in this Act ". As such the view taken by the District Judge in the order sought to be revised cannot be said to suffer from any such error which may justify interference in the present civil revision.
(3.) It is accordingly dismissed and the interim order of stay is vacated.;