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TMI Blog2005 (3) TMI 831X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to be dismissed on trial. He has filed the present appeal under Section 116A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (hereinafter 'the Act', for short). 3. When the appeal was placed before the Court, we felt inclined to hear the learned counsel for the appellant on the question of admission, that is, whether the appeal deserved to be admitted for bi-prate hearing. The learned counsel for the appellant resisted the move of the Court and submitted that this appeal is a statutory first appeal and, therefore, it should be admitted for hearing bi-prate as of right and a notice to respondents must issue as a matter of course. In fact, the learned counsel for the appellant went on to the extent of submitting that the appeal need not have been listed before the Court for the purpose of hearing on admission; rather the Registry itself should have directed notice to be issued to the respondents and placed the appeal only soliciting directions in the matter of printing of the paper books, filing of documents, etc. In other words, the learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the only directions which the Court can make at this stage are those which may be necessary for p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cle 145 of the Constitution do not provide for the procedure applicable to such appeals. In a book 'Supreme Court Practice and Procedure' by B.R. Aggarwal, we find the following passage (at page 138):- No separate rules have been framed by the Supreme Court for filing and hearing appeals under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The procedure in election appeals will be the same as in the case of civil appeals. As soon as election appeals are filed, they are numbered and placed before the Court for preliminary directions. Election Appeals are generally treated as expedited appeals. The Court gives direction regarding preparation of the appeal paper-book. It is generally directed that as soon as the record is ready, the appeals should be placed before the Court for hearing. The rest of the procedure is the same as in the other ordinary appeals. A court-fee of Rs 250 is to be paid on the petition of appeal. 8. The Registry has also brought to our notice that all statutory appeals, including the appeals under Section 116A of the Act, are placed for hearing on admission before the Court, unless otherwise specifically provided by the Rules. It is also pointed out that th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d circumstances of a given case, before issuing notice to the respondent and even before sending for the record of the inferior forum. Similarly, the appellate court possesses power to admit or reject the appeal in its entirety, as also, to admit the appeal in part in regard to a particular part of decree and dismiss it in part if the two parts are severable. Once the appeal is admitted, the appellate court may not, except in very exceptional cases, restrict any grounds on which the appeal should be heard. Where the appellate court exercises its discretion in favour of dismissing the first appeal without issuance of notice to the respondent, it is expected that the reasons for doing so are placed on record. Such recording of reasons is necessary where the order of summary dismissal is open to challenge before a superior forum. This rule of practice does not apply to the Supreme Court as it is the final Court and as no appeals lie against the decisions of this Court, including a decision by which an appeal is summarily dismissed. 10. It will be useful to make a reference to a few decided cases spelling out the judicial opinion relevant to the issue at hand. 11. In Umakant Vishnu Jun ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in the same manner in which, and subject to the same conditions under which, appeals lie from any order or decision of the Court in cases within its ordinary jurisdiction. The use of the word 'shall' makes it clear that the right of appeal conferred by the provision is as of right. But, the Division Bench held that an appellate court under Section 483 has authority to hear the appellant on the merits at the admission stage and decide whether the controversy raised in appeal has any prima facie substance or not. The provision does not put any fetters on the power of the Court to reject worthless appeals at the initial or admission stage and it could not be said that mere institution of the appeal would tantamount to its admission and must go for final hearing. The provision provides clearly for a remedy and is not intended to limit or control the exercise of the powers of the Court, and hence, appeal under Section 483 has to be treated and proceeded with like any other civil appeal. The power of the appellate court exercisable at the stage of admission of the appeal to dismiss a non-deserving appeal, not fit one to go for final hearing, is not taken away. 14. Reference was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o the matter brought before it and reject the appeal which may prima facie have no merit or may suffer from the defects of untenability, limitation as well of incompetency. This stage, which is treated as admission stage of an appeal, appears to protect the litigation from waste of costs as well of public and private time. That can effectively check meritless and vexatious litigations. All these considerations must be kept in view while considering the form of appeal provided by statute. Provisions of Section 483 and the appeal thereunder cannot be treated as an exception and as erasing out all these juridical as well as judicious considerations inherent in the admission stage of an appeal. We can well observe that the stage of admission of appeals in Company matters is neither superfluous nor unnecessary. In fact that posits serious exercise of appellate authority full of judicial consequences. Unless there is something expressly dispensing with that stage, it would be neither just nor proper to hold that in the appeals under Section 483 there cannot be a hearing at the admission stage. We have already indicated that what was observed in M/s. Golcha's case AIR 1970 SC 1350 (su ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for the listing of only certain categories of appeals for preliminary hearing before the Court and in that list the appeal under Section 116A of the Act is not mentioned and therefore, the applicability of M/s. Golcha Investments (P) Ltd. case (supra) is squarely attracted which holds that the appeals, other than those mentioned as required to be listed for admission, cannot be so listed. In our opinion, the submission suffers from a fallacy. Rule 5A relied on by Shri Jain is not applicable here as it finds mention in Part II, Order XV of the Rules, the title whereof reads as under: PART II APPELLATE JURISDICTION (A) Civil Appeals ORDER XV APPEALS ON CERTIFICATE BY HIGH COURT 19. This rule 5A has been inserted in Part II of Order XV dealing with appeals on certificate by High Court. Rule 5A cannot be interpreted as dealing with all types of statutory appeals filed before this Court. On the contrary, we find that there are separate provisions contained in the Supreme Court Rules dealing with statutory appeals viz. Order XX-A - Appeals under Section 55 of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 (54 of 1969), Order XX-B - Appeals under clause (b) of Section 130E of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iversal requirement of the guarantee of life and liberty rooted in the Constitution that men are fallible and so in such cases, a full dressed hearing of an appeal was an integral part of fundamental fairness or procedure. Therefore, the Court held that (i) under the said Rule 15(1)(c), ordinarily the records are sent for and are available; (ii) in the common run of cases, the Court must issue notice to the opposite party and afford a hearing in the presence of both and with the records on hand; (iii) reasons be recorded in the ultimate order. However, the Court has also held that every right of appeal does not carry with it all the right of getting the record, hearing both sides and giving full reasons for decision. A few illustrative cases to which ex-parte summary procedure will still apply are : Where the only ground urged is a point of law which has been squarely covered by a ruling of this Court to keep the appeal lingering longer is survival after death. Where the accused has pleaded guilty of murder and the High Court, on the evidence, is satisfied with the pleas and has awarded the lesser penalty, a mere appeal ex misericordia is an exercise in futility. Where a minor proc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n this context, quite instructive. Chief Justice R.S. Pathak speaking for the Court noticed the volume of work demanding the attention of the Supreme Court of India which made it necessary as a general rule of practice and convenience for the Court to sit in divisions rather than the Court as a whole in the interest of promoting certainty and consistency in judicial decisions. The volume of work has gradually increased. It is the justice oriented approach of this Court, developed by tradition and convention and in its craving to come up to the expectations of 'We, the people of India' that the Court has at times exercised its jurisdiction for redeeming injustice even in individual cases though the Court was expected by the Constitution makers to be a federal court concentrating only on resolution of constitutional issues. This has resulted in adding to its arrears of cases in spite of ceaselessly working for deciding the cases, as fast as it can, and carefully avoiding the two extremes, namely 'justice delayed' and 'justice hurried'. At times, the Court has been criticized for being too liberal in entertaining the cases and adding to the pendency of dockets ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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