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Apparaju Malhar Rao v. Bandi Venkateshwarlu

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 842Decided 1 Sept 2017
Civil Appeal No. 3672 of 2009
Justice R.K. Agrawal · Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre

Background

The respondent (plaintiff) filed a suit for a perpetual injunction to protect his possession of a small plot of land in Karimnagar, Andhra Pradesh, against the appellant and other defendants. The trial court decreed the suit in the plaintiff's favour, but the first appellate court reversed this and dismissed the suit. The plaintiff then filed a second appeal before the High Court, which allowed the second appeal and restored the trial court's decree in his favour, and it is that High Court decision the appellant challenged before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had allowed the second appeal without ever formulating a "substantial question of law," which, per the three-judge bench ruling in Santosh Hazari vs. Purushottam Tiwari, is a mandatory jurisdictional prerequisite under Section 100 of the Code of Civil Procedure before a second appeal can even be heard on merits. Because the High Court's order merely noted counsel's submission that such a question arose, without actually identifying or framing one, its order was not legally sustainable. The Supreme Court therefore allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court's order, and remanded the second appeal back to the High Court to be decided afresh after properly framing the substantial question(s) of law.

Lesson Learnt

No High Court can lawfully decide a second appeal, whatever the outcome, without first explicitly identifying the substantial question of law involved; skipping this formal step by itself is enough to get the decision set aside, regardless of who was actually right on the underlying facts.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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