Published on:19 July 2023 at 19:30 IST
Court: Supreme Court
Citation: Virudhunagar Hindu v. Tuticorin Educational Society (2019)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that the High Courts should always bear in mind a distinction between
- Cases where such alternative remedy is available before civil courts in terms of the provisions of Code of Civil Procedure, and
- Cases where such alternative remedy is available under special enactments and/or statutory rules and the fora provided therein happen to be quasi-judicial authorities and tribunals.
It is held where a remedy is available under Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 or Special enactment then must be construed as a near total bar to invoke Article 227 of the Constitution of India.
11. Secondly, the High Court ought to have seen that when a remedy of appeal under Section 104(1)(i) read with Order 43, Rule 1(r) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, was directly available, Respondents 1 and 2 ought to have taken recourse to the same. It is true that the availability of a remedy of appeal may not always be a bar for the exercise of supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court. In A. Venkatasubbiah Naidu v. S. Chellappan, this Court held that “though no hurdle can be put against the exercise of the constitutional powers of the High Court, it is a well-recognised principle which gained judicial recognition that the High Court should direct the party to avail himself of such remedies before he resorts to a constitutional remedy”.
13. Therefore wherever the proceedings are under the Code of Civil Procedure and the forum is the civil court, the availability of a remedy under the CPC, will deter the High Court, not merely as a measure of self-imposed restriction, but as a matter of discipline and prudence, from exercising its power of superintendence under the Constitution. Hence, the High Court ought not to have entertained the revision under Article 227 especially in a case where a specific remedy of appeal is provided under the Code of Civil Procedure itself.
Drafted by Abhijit Mishra
