Trial court directed to dispose of a twelve-year-pending partition suit within one year.

The petitioner invoked Article 227 of the Constitution seeking a direction for expeditious disposal of O.S. No. 118/2014, a partition suit pending before the I Additional Senior Civil Judge and JMFC, Nelamangala.

The suit had been pending since 2014.

Whether the trial court should be directed to dispose of O.S. No. 118/2014 expeditiously, within a specified time frame.

The petition was brought under Article 227 of the Constitution, invoking the High Court’s supervisory jurisdiction over subordinate courts.

The Court applied the case-specific principle that, having regard to the prolonged pendency of a suit and the circumstances identified, it may direct the trial court to avoid unnecessary adjournments and conclude the proceeding within a fixed outer limit.

The Court noted that the partition suit had remained pending since 2014 and considered both the duration of its pendency—more than 12 years—and the age of the parties.

On that basis, it considered a time-bound direction appropriate and required the trial court to avoid unnecessary adjournments.