Civil courts, criminal courts and revenue courts functioning in districts are collectively known as:

The civil, criminal and revenue courts at the district level and below are called subordinate courts, because they rank below the higher courts in the judicial hierarchy.

Constitutional provisions:

• Articles 233 to 237 in Part VI deal with subordinate courts.
• Article 233: appointment of district judges by the Governor in consultation with the High Court.
• Article 234: appointment of other judicial officers.
• Article 236: definitions of "district judge" and "judicial service".
• Article 237: application of these provisions to magistrates.

Civil courts:

• District Judge: the highest civil court in a district.
• Senior Civil Judge (Sub-Judge).
• Junior Civil Judge (Munsiff).
• Small Causes Courts in some cities.

Criminal courts:

• Sessions Judge: the highest criminal court in a district; can award any sentence, but a death sentence must be confirmed by the High Court.
• Chief Judicial Magistrate.
• Judicial Magistrates of the First Class and Second Class.
• Metropolitan Magistrates in big cities.

Revenue courts:

• They deal with disputes about land revenue, land records and tenancy.
• They include the courts of the Board of Revenue, the Commissioner, the Collector, the Tehsildar and the Naib Tehsildar.

District Judge and Sessions Judge:

The same person usually acts as District Judge for civil cases and Sessions Judge for criminal cases.

Importance:

• Most cases in India begin and end in the subordinate courts.
• They are the courts closest to the common people.

Problems:

• Subordinate courts face a huge backlog of cases, shortage of judges and inadequate infrastructure.
• Reforms include e-courts, computerisation and the National Judicial Data Grid.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Tribunals are specialised bodies for particular subjects.
• ✗Lok Adalats settle disputes by compromise.
• ✗Fast-track courts are special courts for speedy trial of certain cases.