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[chander nigam]

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Hi friends 


I am working on everyday life of Tis Hazaari, a district court in Delhi.This is my first posting after abstract. In this mail I will write briefly about history and the beginning of the present Tis Hazaari court. I will also write a small paragraph on advocates’ chambers and seats and a very brief summary of an interview. 

Let me start with some oral testimony related to its beginning. For some it was a huge ‘jungle’ and some time in the history 30 thousand trees were cut down here, thus it became Tis Hazaari. While some says that Mughal emperor Aurangzeb had thirty thousand horses and present tis hazaari was his Astbal. But the most popular Voice is that Mughal and Sikh were rivals to each other. Mughal emperor Aurangzeb passed the order to decapitate GURUTEG BAHADUR. After that incident Sikhs got annoyed from Aurangzeb. One sikh ‘Subedar’ of Punjab Riyasat (name is still to find out) came to Delhi and attacked the emperor. The story follows that the Subedar was having thirty thousand ‘Sanik’ with him, who were staying at the same tis hazari campus, which we are talking about. A negotiation was made between both sides and a letter of compromise was exchanged. After that the place was known as tis hazari. If we believe my one of the respondents then the compromise letter is still in the Red Fort archive. Since all these stories are based on interviews and oral testimonies so that it is quite obvious that we can get other versions also. Anyway I am going to consult historical and archeological documents and materials to have the fact. 

Tis Hazaari is the first District and Session court in Delhi after independence. Before starting at the present site it was functioning from the same building at Kashmere Gate, which is the present Registrar office. Built in 1954, it was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Pdt. Jawahar Lal Nehu. This three story building has more than 300 rooms for courts and other administrative purposes. There is another building on the right side of the main building, known as Tahseel Building. It was the interim court during the shifting of courts from Kashmere Gate to Tis Hazaari. But today the tahseel building has the big and specious chambers of advocates. Besides Tahseel building advocates have their chambers in western wing (this is also known as criminal side), eastern wing (civil side), K block (on the back side of tahseel building), Baba Gurucharan Singh block (near western wing), C.L.Joseph block (on the very back side of the main building). Beside the chambers advocates operate from their seats, which are spread all over the court premises. Baring a few chambers all are unauthorized from one way or another. But the emergence and mushrooming of advocates’ chambers and seats will be an interesting story to follow, a little bit of which I am going to do in my study. 

Although I have interviewed number of advocates, court staffs and other persons working in the court, I am summrising the chat, which I had with a lady lawyer. For the last 20 years Ms. Sarita Bakshi (name changed) is practicing in Tis Hazaari Courts. She was one among the six female lawyers at that time. “I was interested in the practice of criminal cases but it was difficult for me to start with, because there was only one female advocate in the criminal side. Anyway, my family supported me and I purchased a chamber in the criminal side and began my carrier with bail matters”, says Ms. Bakshi. After some time she realized the bad attitudes of male advocates towards females in the profession. She says, “They usually pass leud comments and remarks and tried to realize us that the profession is not good for females.” But now according to her lot of change has been taken place. Number of female advocates is also being increasing rapidly. The profession makes bold and build confidence among females. She suggests that females should join this profession. Earlier lots of litigations were coming into the courts but now the number of litigations is decreasing. And the reason behind this decreasing no. of cases according to her is the lack of speedy trial. “Corruption has made the situation worse, therefore the litigants try hard for out of court settlements. But whatever is coming is due to the general faith in judicial system ” , she says. According to her the court premises is full of corruption. “You go in the court room, today even the lady court staffs will directly ask for KHARCHA PAANI, this was not earlier.”
For the time being this is it. Very soon my next posting will follow. 

In the next posting I will write a brief note on Delhi Bar Association (DBA) and a summary of some cases, which I am following for the purpose of my study. You are most welcome with your comments, remarks and suggestions. 

cheers
chander