The jurisdiction of the Civil Court is wide and not ousted unless there is a special law enacted for a particular aspect.

By filing this petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India the petitioners challenged order dated 23.11.2007, passed by learned Civil Judge(Junior Division), Kailashahar, North Tripura, in Title Suit No.29 of 2006, whereunder the learned Civil Judge directed transfer of the title suit from his Court to the Court of Judge, Family Court, Kailashahar, North Tripura.

2. Heard learned counsel, Mr. D.K. Biswas for the petitioners and learned counsel, Mr. P. Dutta for the respondents.

3. The petitioners instituted Title Suit No.29 of 2006 seeking declaration that plaintiff-petitioner No.1 is the sole heir of late Matangini Suklabaidya and further declaration that the defendant No.1 is not an heir of said Matangini Suklabaidya and also prayed for injunction.

3.1. The suit, as it appears, was for declaration simpliciter under Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act. While it was pending for disposal before the learned Civil Judge, Junior Division, Kailashahar, North Tripura, by impugned order dated 23.11.2007 the learned Yes No Civil Judge held that the suit involves declaration of legitimacy of a person and such declaration is covered by Section 7 of the Family Courts Act and therefore the Family Court has got exclusive jurisdiction to deal with the case and hence learned Civil Judge transferred the case to the Family Court, Kailashahar, North Tripura and directed transfer of the case records to that Court. The learned Civil Judge also directed both the parties to appear before the learned Judge, Family Court, Kailashahar, North Tripura.

3.2. Challenging that order the present revisional application is filed.

3.3. The following two issues fell for consideration in this petition, namely—

(i) Whether a Civil Judge, Junior Division has any jurisdiction/power to transfer a case from his Court to the Family Court?

(ii) Whether a suit for declaration of legal heir is triable by an ordinary Civil Court or by a Family Court?

4. Learned counsel, Mr. D.K. Biswas appearing for the petitioners has submitted that a Family Court is vested with the power to deal with disputes concerning family which involves matrimonial disputes and other disputes relating to family status and maintenance, etc. The Family Court cannot declare the status of a person as to whether the person is a legal heir or not and while such dispute is involved in a civil suit, the learned Civil Judge would try the case himself and dispose it according to law. Learned Civil Judge committed a great mistake directing transfer of the case to the Family Court and the suit instituted by the petitioners does not come within the purview of Section 7(e) of the Family Courts Act.

5. Learned counsel, Mr. Dutta on the other hand appearing for the respondents has submitted that Section 7(e) of the Family Courts Act clearly stipulated the jurisdiction of the Family Court in respect of declaration as to the legitimacy of a person and since in the suit, the plaintiff-petitioners sought for a declaration that the plaintiff No.1 is the sole heir of late Matangini Suklabaidya and that defendant No.1 is not the heir of said Matangini Suklabaidya, the suit is well covered under Section 7(e) of the Family Courts Act and hence the learned Civil Judge rightly passed the order.

6. Let us first decide issue No.(i), as to whether a Civil Judge, Junior Division has jurisdiction/power to transfer a case from his Court to the Family Court.

6.1. A perusal of impugned order dated 23.11.2007 shows that evidence has already been recorded and the suit was at the final stage of hearing and on that day a point was raised by the learned counsel of the defendants that the suit is covered by Section 7(e) of the Family Courts Act, and hence learned Civil Judge directed transfer of the case to the Family Court, Kailashahar and further directed to send the record to the Family Court.

6.2. A Civil Judge, Junior Division has no jurisdiction or power to transfer a case from his Court to another Court. Section 24 of