Fourteen Years At The Pre-Trial Threshold. The Court Set A Clock.
A boundary dispute filed in 2012 had not got past the pre-trial stage. The Calcutta High Court has ordered a survey commission and put the whole suit on a timetable.
The Court set aside the trial court's order and allowed the plaintiff's application under Order 26 Rule 9, directing the appointment of a competent, survey-knowing Advocate Commissioner within two weeks for a comprehensive local investigation. The commission work and report must be completed within four weeks, and the trial concluded preferably within six months, with no unnecessary adjournments to either party.
- A simple suit at the pre-trial threshold for a decade was itself the reason the Court intervened.
- Two weeks to appoint, four weeks to report, six months to finish — every stage carries a date.
- Survey-knowing was specified; a general Commissioner would not do for spot measurements.
- The plaintiff pays first, the costs and remuneration being borne initially by the petitioner as fixed by the trial court.
- Court
- High Court at Calcutta
- Bench
- Justice HON'BLE JUSTICE UDAY KUMAR
- Citation
- C.O. No. 1738 of 2025
- Case
- C.O. No. 1738 of 2025
- Decided
- 31 August 2026
- Outcome
- Revision allowed; commission directed and the suit put on a timetable
Why the Court took it up
The wheels of civil jurisprudence are engineered to secure substantive rights through a predictable, structured and expeditious process.
When a simple suit instituted at the dawn of a decade languishes interminably at the pre-trial threshold, it tests the patience of the litigating public and undermines the very foundational ethos of speedy justice.
The suit here is a title suit of 2012 before the Civil Judge (Junior Division), Second Court at Serampore.
What was ordered
The trial court's order was set aside and the plaintiff's application under Order 26 Rule 9 read with Section 151 of the Code was allowed.
The trial court must appoint a competent, survey-knowing Advocate Commissioner within two weeks of communication of the order, for a comprehensive local investigation in terms of the reliefs prayed for, on prior written notice to both contesting parties.
The costs, fees and remuneration of the Commissioner are to be borne initially by the petitioner-plaintiff, as assessed and fixed by the trial court.
The timetable
The commission work is to be executed, the spot measurements taken, and the formal report submitted within a strict four weeks of the issue of the commission.
On receipt and formal acceptance of the report into evidence, the trial court must immediately proceed with the peremptory hearing and conclude the trial with utmost expedition, preferably within six months of receipt of the order.
The trial court is to ensure that no unnecessary adjournments are granted to either party under any pretext whatsoever.
Who argued it
Appearances as recorded in the judgment of the Court.
Frequently asked
When is a local investigation commission appointed?
Where the court needs spot measurements or facts that can only be ascertained on the ground, under Order 26 Rule 9 of the Code.
Who pays the Advocate Commissioner?
Initially the applicant, as assessed and fixed by the trial court.
Getting a survey commission issued in a property suit
- Ask for a survey-knowing Commissioner by name of qualification; the Court specified it.
- Set out precisely what is to be measured in the application, since the commission is issued in terms of the reliefs prayed for.
- Be ready to bear the fee initially; recovery follows the decree.
- Ask for the trial timetable in the same order — the commission alone does not move the suit.
Source. High Court at Calcutta, C.O. No. 1738 of 2025, decided 31 August 2026 by Justice HON'BLE JUSTICE UDAY KUMAR. This explainer is written from the judgment text as reported.
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