Vidhi Codex

section 91

State Government may empower panchayat courts to take cognizance of and try certain offences

The Tamil Nadu Village Courts Act, 1888
Civil188894 sections9 chapters
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Statutory text
  1. (1) The State Government may, by order notified in the District Gazette, empower a panchayat court to take cognizance of and try all or any of the following offences when committed within the local limits of its jurisdiction :—
    • (a) Offences punishable under sections 160, 277, 283, 290, 323, 334, 352, 358, 504 and 510 of the Indian Penal Code.
    • (b) Offences punishable under section 379 of the Indian Penal Code in respect of property not exceeding ten rupees in value, when the offender has not been previously convicted of theft.
    • (c) Offences punishable under section 426 of the Indian Penal Code when the loss or damage caused thereby does not exceed ten rupees.
    • (d) Offences punishable under section 3, clauses (9),
  2. (11) and
  3. (12) of the Tamil Nadu Towns Nuisances Act, 1889.
    • (e) Any other specified offence under the Indian Penal Code or any special or local law which is punishable with fine only or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months only or with both : Provided that in respect of offences mentioned in clauses
    • (b) and
    • (c) the State Government may extend the jurisdiction of a panchayat court to cases where the value of the property stolen or the loss or damage caused does not exceed twenty rupees. Explanation.—The offences mentioned in this section include abetments of such offences.
  4. (2) If a panchayat court finds an accused person guilty of any of the above offences, it may impose on him—
    • (a) a fine not exceeding ten rupees in respect of an offence under section 510 of the Indian Penal Code, and
    • (b) a fine not exceeding fifteen rupees in respect of any of the other offences : Provided that in case of conviction of an offence under clauses
    • (b) and
    • (c) of sub-section
  5. (1) the fine may extend to twice the value of the property stolen or the amount of the damage caused.
  6. (3) The panchayat court may allow a reasonable time for the payment of the fine, or may order that the fine shall be paid by instalments; but if the fine is not paid as directed, the court shall recover it in the same manner as if it were due under a decree under this Act. If in any case it appears to the court that the fine imposed cannot be recovered as aforesaid, it shall submit the case to the Subdivisional Magistrate, who may award such term of imprisonment as is authorized by law in case of such default; provided that the term so awarded shall in no case exceed one week.
  7. (4) Subject to such rules as the State Government may make in this behalf, the procedure to be adopted by panchayat courts in criminal trials shall be as follows :— The court need not record the evidence of the witnesses or frame a formal charge but it shall enter in the prescribed form the following particulars:—
    • (a) The serial number ;
    • (b) The date of the commission of the offence ;
    • (c) The date of the report or complaint ;
    • (d) The names, parentage and residences of the complainant, the accused and the witnesses examined ;
    • (e) The offence complained of and the offence (if any) proved, and in cases coming under clauses
    • (b) and
    • (c) of sub-section
  8. (1) the value of the property stolen or the amount of the loss or damage caused ;
    • (f) The plea of the accused and his statement, if any ;
    • (g) The finding and, in the case of a conviction, a brief statement of the reasons therefor ;
    • (h) The amount of fine imposed ; and
      • (i) The date on which the proceedings terminated.
  9. (5) Except in accordance with rules framed by the State Government no legal practitioner, whether qualified, or unqualified, shall be allowed to appear either for the complainant or for the accused.
  10. (6) If at any stage of the proceedings it appears to the court that the case is one which ought to be tried by a Magistrate or if at the close of the trial the court is of opinion that the accused is guilty and that he ought to receive a punishment different in kind from, or more severe than, that which it is empowered to inflict, it shall submit the case to the Subdivisional Magistrate, who may transfer the case to his own court or to the court of a magistrate subordinate to him. (7)
    • (a) The District or Subdivisional Magistrate may, whenever he considers it necessary in the interests of justice, transfer any case pending before a panchayat court to his own court or to the court of any Magistrate subordinate to himself or to any other panchayat court within his jurisdiction.
    • (b) Where however a panchayat court is disestablished and no new panchayat court is constituted in lieu thereof, the District or Subdivisional Magistrate shall transfer all criminal cases and proceedings before such court to his own court or to the court of any Magistrate subordinate to himself or to any panchayat court within his jurisdiction.
  11. (8) No appeal shall lie against any sentence or order passed by a panchayat court under this section, but the District Magistrate or Subdivisional Magistrate may set aside any conviction on the ground of corruption, gross partiality or misconduct on the part of the court, or on the ground that there has been a gross miscarriage of justice.
  12. (9) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, a Magistrate taking cognizance upon a complaint or police report of an offence cognizable by a panchayat court may, unless sufficient reasons exist to the contrary, transfer the case to the panchayat court having jurisdiction.

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