Section 48. Procedure before village courts.

(1) The provisions of— (a) the Court Fees Act, 1870 (7 of 1870), (b) the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), and (c) the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), shall not apply to any trial or any criminal case or civil suit before a village court. (2) The procedure to be followed by a village court in any criminal case or civil suit and in the enforcement of its decisions, sentences, decrees and orders, and in the method of forming a quorum shall be prescribed by rules made under this Act. (3) The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872) shall not apply in the trial of any case or suit by a village court but the village court shall observe as far as possible the principles underlying that Act.