PRE-TRIAL CONDUCT
In pre-trial hearing parties to the dispute and their lawyers
hold a pre-schedule meeting before the trial begins in the presence
of judge, or a magistrate or a judicial officer who possesses fewer
judicial powers than a judge.
In India, the system of pre-trial hearing is not clearly
celebrated as a distinctive feature of the judicial process,
although both the Civil Procedure Code and Criminal Procedure Code
contain certain provisions that can be utilized for this
purpose.
The Law Commission has rejected the proposal for pre-trial
conferences in the Fourteenth Report. It observed that conditions
in our country are not yet ripe for the introduction of such an
innovation. Although, government is seeking to speed up disposal of
cases by introducing the system of 'pre-trial hearings' on
the lines of the UK and the US.
