HC Deb 11 July 1890 vol 346 cc1471-2
*MR. BRADLAUGH

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether the Secretary of State is aware that the administration of Civil Justice in India costs Rs. 2,14,27,000, of which all but the small sum of Rs. 140,000 is obtained by taxation of the litigants, and that Bengal litigants are taxed Rs. 140,000 more than the total cost of Civil Justice in the province; (2) whether complaints have reached him that the litigants of Bengal who pay more than the whole cost, are unable to get their cases tried, and the zemindars, whom the Government sell up when they do not pay by sunset the appointed amount, cannot obtain the necessary facilities for the recovery of their rents, and that the munsiffs are terribly overworked, and try cases in ill-ventilated huts, and there is much sickness among them in consequence; and (3) whether the Secretary of State will lay upon the Table the correspondence on this subject since 1870 between the High Court of Calcutta and the Government of India upon the requirements of the Bengal Judicial Service, the Government of Bengal, and the Government of India, and the Government of India and the Secretary of State?

*SIR J. GORST

My answer to the first paragraph of the question is that the administration of Civil Justice in India costs approximately Rs. 2,14,27,000 and is defrayed by fees paid by litigants. In Bengal, there is a surplus. In Madras the receipts and charges balance each other; and in the rest of India there is a loss. The total deficit exceeds 12½ lakhs. My answer to the second paragraph of the question is in the negative. In regard to the third paragraph, if the hon. Member will put himself in communication with me, the Secretary of State will consider whether any Papers can be usefully laid upon the Table.

*MR. BRADLAUGH

Does the right hon. Gentleman really mean that complaints have not reached him, because it appears on page 93 of the Blue Book on the Indian Financial Statement issued by himself this year, in the last paragraph but one from the bottom of the page, that there is a reference to this matter in the precise words of the question?

*SIR J. GORST

The question was whether complaints have reached the Under Secretary of State. No complaint has reached the Under Secretary of State.

*MR. BRADLAUGH

Have any complaints reached the Government of India?

*SIR J. GORST

I am afraid I cannot answer that question without notice.

*MR. BRADLAUGH

Docs the right hon. Gentleman mean to say that a complaint made to the Vice-Regal Council and presented and circulated in a Parliamentary Paper to this House is a matter upon which he has no information?

*SIR J. GORST

The question of the hon. Member was whether certain complaints have reached me, and my answer is in the negative. I do not know what complaints may have reached the Vice-Regal Council. If the hon. Member will give notice he shall have a proper answer to the question.

*MR. BRADLAUGH

I beg to give notice that I will take the opportunity of raising the question fully on the Indian Budget.