Fidaali Moiz Mithiborwala and Anr. (thr. POA Holder) v. M/s Aceros Fortune Industries Pvt. Ltd. & Ors.
Background
This matter (along with four connected civil appeals: Nos. 5753, 5749, 5702 and 5810 of 2017) arose out of earlier proceedings in which the appellants had applied for restoration of some underlying claim or petition. While these appeals were pending before the Supreme Court, that separate application for restoration was itself dismissed, which overtook the issues originally raised in the appeals.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that because of this intervening development, the dismissal of the restoration application, nothing substantive remained to be decided in the appeals, and it dismissed all of them on that basis. The Court was careful to clarify that this dismissal would not bar the appellants from separately challenging the dismissal of their restoration application through whatever legal remedies were otherwise available to them.
Lesson Learnt
When the underlying proceeding an appeal depends on is itself disposed of or dismissed while the appeal is pending, the appeal can become infructuous and be dismissed on that ground alone, but such a dismissal does not shut the door on challenging the underlying order through a separate, proper legal route.