A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court has held that a pleader commissioner can act as a partition commissioner with the assistance of a survey-passed engineer or diploma holder (Dinabandhu Paul & Ors vs. Chandra Rani Paul & Ors)..An order to this effect was passed last November after the Bench comprising Justices Harish Tandon and Abhijit Gangopadhyay was informed that listed survey passed pleader commissioners, qualified in terms of rules under the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), are no longer available..As per Rule 239 of the Civil Rules and Orders, only pleaders who have passed the Pleaders Survey Examination from a competent institution or the university can be enrolled as a partition commissioner. Moreover, as per the aforesaid provision, a list of the survey passed pleader commissioners is also required to be maintained in every District..However, the Court noted that with the passage of time, listed survey passed pleader commissioners are no longer available. In some districts there is no person competent to function as pleader commissioner, surviving, the Court was informed. The Court proceeded to observe that,.“… institutions which were imparting such education to the pleader commissioner discontinued such training programme and the situation has reached to an alarming position and it is a hard reality that the partition suits are stuck up after the preliminary decree passed therein. Because of discontinuance of the survey course, the young generation lawyers cannot offer to be enrolled as a Survey Passed Commissioner as they cannot acquire proficiency in this regard.”.To remedy this situation, the Court has ordered that that pleader commissioners may be appointed as partition commissioner, albeit with additional assistance to perform the role expected of them. The order states,.We do not find any difficulty in passing an order while appointing a pleader commissioner to act as a partition commissioner with the assistance of Survey Passed Engineer or diploma holder and submit the report by him including the report submitted to him by the survey pass diploma holder /engineer so that the purpose and the object for passing a final decree in a partition suit is not frustrated and/or render unworkable.Calcutta High Court.As far as the instant case was concerned, the Court found that the partition commissioner appointed did not have the proficiency to carry out the survey of the property. Therefore, the matter was sent back to the trial court with a direction to dispose of the matter expeditiously. .The matter before the High Court was disposed after directing the circulation of the order among all District judges. The following direction has been given,.“We, therefore, direct all the judicial officers to see that while appointing a pleader commissioner to act as a partition commissioner, the power is given to them to take assistance of Survey Passed persons who holds either a degree or a diploma at the cost of the parties so long there is a sufficient number of Survey Passed Pleader commissioner having proficiency in surveying are available.”Calcutta High Court.[Read the Order]
