Courts in Pathankot
Until the middle of 2011, Pathankot was a part of Gurudaspur district and hence for all legal and administrative matters, the inhabitants of this area had to go to Gurudaspur, which was then the headquarters for the entire district. However, 27th July, 2011 was a big day for the people of this area. On that very day, Pathankot, along with adjoing area was carved out of Gurudaspur to form Pathankot district. Although the administrative offices were immediately shifted to Pathankot city, the litigant as well as the legal fraternity had to wait for two whole years for the same privilege.
Pathankot gets its first District and Session Judge
Pathankot got its first District and Session Judge on 3rd August, 2013. Since then, the organization has been acting as a sub-ordinate institution of Punjab & Haryana High Court in Pathankot. The opening ceremony of the court was graced by the Administrative Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh and all the top administrative officers as well as whole of legal fraternity of the city were present to mark the occasion. The transfer of courts along with 2900 pending cases was indeed a big relief to the people of this area. The cases that fell under the jurisdiction of Pathankot Court could now be heard at Pathankot only.Jurisdiction of Pathankot District and Session Judge:
Pathankot Court has the following police stations under its jurisdiction:- Division I, Pathankot
- Division II, Pathankot
- Sadar Pathankot
- GRP, Pathankot
- RPF, Pathankot
- Shahpurkandi
- Kanwar
- Sujanpur
- Dhar Kalan
- Taragarh
- Narot Jaimal Singh
As has already been mentioned, when the District and session Judge was transferred from Gurudaspur to Pathankot, there were 2900 pending cases. On 17.04.2014, it was decided that for speedy and fair trial, the above mentioned police stations need to be assigned to different judges. Accordingly:
- Division No I, GRP and RPF of Pathankot have been assigned to Additional Judicial Magistrate, Randhir Verma.
- Shahpurkandi, Kanwar, Sujanpur and Dhar Kalan have been assigned to Jarnail Singh, Chief Judicial
- Magistrate.
- Division No II and Narot Jaimal Singh have been assigned to Hirdejit Singh, Judicial Magistrate
- Ist Class.
- Sadar Pathankot and Taragarh have been assigned to Rajinder Singh, Judicial Magistrate
- Ist Calss.
It has also been decided that all new institutions of cases will be made as per above mentioned guideline.
Judicial officers under Pathankot District and Session Judge
As we have already seen, there are number of courts under District and session Judge. There are different cadres of judicial officers serving at these courts. Let us next look into that:- The District & Sessions Judge
- The Additional District & Sessions Judge
- The Civil Judge (Senior Division)
- The Chief Judicial Magistrate
- The Civil Judges (Junior Division)
- Judicial Magistrate First Class
Besides, there are a number of Group B, Group C and Group D staffs serving the courts in Pathankot. While Chief Administrative Officer/Superintendent falls under Group B, Reader (Grade I, II & III), Stenographer (Grade I, II & III), clerks, driver, and bailiff fall under Group C category of staffs. Peons fall under Group D.