THE WITNESS STAND - LITIGATION CAPSULE #1

The Ahlmad and Naib Court – Unsung Heroes of our Judicial System

If you have interned in the Courts at New Delhi, you would have invariably heard about these persons, but not many people know about their roles in the system. Today’s post is about the Ahlmad and the Naib Court, two of the most important posts in the Indian judicial system, without whom the Court system would crumble and fall apart.

No judge can work in isolation, and there is usually a group of people who help him with respect to his paper work and other details. These people are called readers, stenographers, clerks, typists etc. The job description and duties vary from state to state, and can sometimes overlap as well. The title Ahlmad is used to refer to an assistant of the Court. It is predominantly used in the Courts of New Delhi, Punjab and Haryana.  In Delhi, the Ahlmad’s room is located right next to each Courtroom. It is denoted with the letter A. For example, if the Courtroom is numbered at 23, the Ahlmad’s room would customarily be called “23-A”.

The Ahlmad has all the information and details about not just individual cases, but also about how the Court system as a whole functions and he can be of immense help. His duties broadly fall under the category of an“Office Assistant. Every morning, it is the Ahlmad who prepares the cause list for the day, coordinates with the stenographer/reader, and ensures that all the daily Orders have been printed and signed by the Hon’ble Judge. His job also includes liaising with the other Court rooms to check if the Judge requires any further information from a different Courtroom. (This can happen when matters are transferred from one Judge’s Courtroom to another.) Besides being a public information officer, he is also responsible for making proper entries about each case, including noting down the Goshwara numbers in the proper Court Registers.

What is a Goshwara number?

Goshwara is an Urdu word which whentranslated in English denotes a‘secluded place’. In the legal world, it refers to a room where the decided/dismissed/disposed of case files sit. As soon as a final Order/Judgement has been passed in a case, it is assigned a Goshwara number and the concerned Court file is transferred to the Goshwara room.

Now coming back to the Ahlmad, his duties vary from State to State. You can see an example here. 

Needless to say, the Ahlmad performs extremely essential functions in the judicial system. We seldom see or hear of them despite their importance. The next time you walk past an Ahlmad’s room, you will realise that the person working there is an irreplaceable piece of the Indian judicial system.

Another Court officer who seems to be hustling in and out of criminal courtrooms is the Naib Court. He is a police officer who is in-charge of a designated Police Station and is appointed for a specific Court Room. This Court officer will have any/all details pertaining to the First Information Report (“FIR”) concerned and will also know about the status of the cases if you give him/her the particulars such as the FIR number, etc. 

How does the criminal court system work in Delhi?

The criminal Courtrooms are each assigned a police station or two. In other words, the Courtrooms on the criminal side of the Delhi High Court or the District Courts are divided according to territorial jurisdiction. For example, FIRs lodged at Mehrauli Police Station would be assigned to one Courtroom at Saket Courts while FIRs lodged in Vasant Vihar perhaps, would be assigned to Courtrooms in the Patiala House Courts. The Judges assigned to each of these Courtrooms will handle all the criminal matters that arise from these districts.

In short, if you have just started working at the Criminal Courts and do not know who to approach and want to find out more about a case you have just been assigned, approach the Naib Court of the concerned Police Station where your FIR has been lodged and ask them about the FIR/case concerned. You will invariably get your answer.