Skip to content

Advocatetanmoy Law Library

Legal Database

United States Code

  • Title 1. General Provisions
  • Title 2. The Congress
  • Title 3. The President
  • Title 4. Flag and Seal, Seat of Government, and the States
  • Title 5. Government Organization and Employees
  • Title 6. Domestic Security
  • Title 7. Agriculture
  • Title 8. Aliens and Nationality
  • Title 9. Arbitration
  • Title 10. Armed Forces
  • Title 11. Bankruptcy
  • Title 12. Banks and Banking
  • Title 13. Census
  • Title 14. Coast Guard
  • Title 15. Commerce and Trade
  • Title 16. Conservation
  • Title 17. Copyrights
  • Title 18. Crimes and Criminal Procedure
  • Title 19. Customs Duties
  • Title 20. Education
  • Title 21. Food and Drugs
  • Title 22. Foreign Relations and Intercourse
  • Title 23. Highways
  • Title 24. Hospitals and Asylums
  • Title 25. Indians
  • Title 26. Internal Revenue Code
  • Title 27. Intoxicating Liquors
  • Title 28. Judiciary and Judicial Procedure
  • Title 29. Labor
  • Title 30. Mineral Lands and Mining
  • Title 31. Money and Finance
  • Title 32. National Guard
  • Title 33. Navigation and Navigable Waters
  • Title 35. Patents
  • Title 36. Patriotic and National Observances, Ceremonies, and Organizations
  • Title 37. Pay and Allowances of the Uniformed Services
  • Title 38. Veterans' Benefits
  • Title 39. Postal Service
  • Title 40. Public Buildings, Property, and Works
  • Title 41. Public Contracts
  • Title 42. The Public Health and Welfare
  • Title 43. Public Lands
  • Title 44. Public Printing and Documents
  • Title 45. Railroads
  • Title 46. Shipping
  • Title 47. Telecommunications
  • Title 48. Territories and Insular Possessions
  • Title 49. Transportation
  • Title 50. War and National Defense
  • Title 51. National and Commercial Space Programs
  • Title 52. Voting and Elections
  • Title 54. National Park Service and Related Programs

Read More

  • Home
    • About
  • UPDATES
  • Courts
  • Constitutions
  • Law Exam
  • Pleading
  • Indian Law
  • Notifications
  • Glossary
  • Account
  • Home
  • 2018
  • June
  • 16
  • The High Court cannot in guise of exercising its jurisdiction under Article 227 convert itself into a Court of appeal
  • Writ

The High Court cannot in guise of exercising its jurisdiction under Article 227 convert itself into a Court of appeal

4 min read
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

In Bathutmal Raichand Oswal vs. Laxmibai R. Tarta and another, (1975) 1 SCC 858, this Court held :

“The High Court cannot in guise of exercising its jurisdiction under Article 227 convert itself into a Court of appeal when the Legislature has not conferred a right of appeal and made the decision of the subordinate Court or Tribunal final on facts.”

33. In State through Special Cell, New Delhi vs. Navjot Sandhu alias Afshan Guru and others, (2003) 6 SCC 641 this Court explained the power of the High Court under Article 227 thus :

“Thus the law is that Article 227 of the Constitution of India gives the High Court the power of superintendence over all Courts and Tribunals throughout the territories in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction. This jurisdiction cannot be limited or fettered by any Act of the State Legislature. The supervisory jurisdiction extends to keeping the subordinate Tribunals within the limits of their authority and to seeing that they obey the law. The powers under Article 227 are wide and can be used, to meet the ends of justice. They can be used to interfere even with an interlocutory order. However the power under Article 227 is a discretionary power and it is difficult to attribute to an order of the High Court, such a source of power, when the High Court itself does not in terms purport to exercise any such discretionary power. It is settled law that this power of judicial superintendence, under Article 227, must be exercised sparingly and only to keep subordinate Courts and Tribunals within the bounds of their authority and not to correct mere errors. Further, where the statute bans the exercise of revisional powers it would require very exceptional circumstances to warrant interference under Article 227 of the Constitution of India since the power of superintendence was not meant to circumvent statutory law. It is settled law that the jurisdiction under Article 227 could not be exercised “as the cloak of an appeal in disguise”.”

34. The aforesaid two decisions and few other decisions, namely, Chandavarkar Sita Ratna Rao vs. Ashalata S. Guram, (1986) 4 SCC 447; State of Maharashtra vs. Milind and others (2001) 1 SCC 4, Ranjeet Singh vs. Ravi Prakash, (2004) 3 SCC 682, came to be considered by this Court in the case of Shamshad Ahmad and others vs. Tilak Raj Bajaj (Deceased) through L.Rs. and others, (2008) 9 SCC 1 and this Court held :

“Though powers of a High Court under Articles 226 and 227 are very wide and extensive over all Courts and Tribunals throughout the territories in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction, such powers must be exercised within the limits of law. The power is supervisory in nature. The High Court does not act as a Court of appeal or a Court of error. It can neither review nor re-appreciate, nor re-weigh the evidence upon which determination of a subordinate Court or inferior Tribunal purports to be based or to correct errors of fact or even of law and to substitute its own decision for that of the inferior Court or Tribunal. The powers are required to be exercised most sparingly and only in appropriate cases in order to keep the subordinate Courts and inferior Tribunals within the limits of law.”

35. In light of the aforesaid legal position concerning jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 227, which the High Court failed to keep in mind, it must be held that in the facts and circumstances of the case and the findings recorded by the Additional Rent Controller as well as the Administrative Tribunal, High Court was not justified in interfering with the concurrent orders of eviction based on the ground of sub-letting in exercise of its power under Article 227 of the Constitution of India.

Babhutmal Raichand Oswal vs. Laxmibai R. Tarta and Anr., (1975) 1 SCC 858, dealing with supervisory power of a High Court under Article 227 of the Constitution, Bhagwati, J. (as His Lordship then was) stated;

“If an error of fact, even though apparent on the face of the record, cannot be corrected by means of a writ of certiorari it should follow a fortiori that it is not subject to correction by the High Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 227. The power of superintendence under Article 227 cannot be invoked to correct an error of fact which only a superior court can do in exercise of its statutory power as a court of appeal. The High Court cannot in guise of exercising its jurisdiction under Article 227 convert itself into a court of appeal when the legislature has not conferred a right of appeal and made the decision of the subordinate court or tribunal final on facts”.

In Ranjeet Singh vs. Ravi Prakash, (2004) 3 SCC 682, again this Court while interpreting the provisions of the Act in question, held that the High Court, while exercising powers under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution, cannot act like an appellate Court and re-appreciate or re-evaluate the evidence while exercising certiorari or supervisory jurisdiction. Only a patent error which did not require establishment by lengthy and complicated arguments or by long drawn process of reasoning is amenable to certiorari jurisdiction. If two opinions were reasonably possible, the finding arrived at one way or the other by the appellate authority, cannot be disturbed.

 

Related

Tags: Power of High Court supervisory jurisdiction Writ

Continue Reading

Previous: Where the Disciplinary Authority records a finding without any evidence or a finding which no reasonable person could have arrived at, the writ court would interfere
Next: Whether Habeas corpus could be maintained if a person is in police custody by remand order-SC said no.

Indian Supreme Court Digest

  • ISKCON leaders, engage themselves into frivolous litigations and use court proceedings as a platform to settle their personal scores-(SC-18/05/2023)
  • High Court would not interfere by a Revision against a decree or order u/s 6 of SRA if there is no exceptional case (SC-2/4/2004)
  • Borrower may file a counterclaim either before DRT in a proceeding filed by Bank under RDB Act or a Civil Suit under CPC-SC (10/11/2022)
  • When Supreme Court interfered in case of High Court refused Anticipatory Bail (02/12/2022)
  • Award can be modified only to the extent of arithmetical or clerical error-SC (22/11/2021)

Write A Guest Post

Current Posts

Uddharan Dutta Thakur (1904)
1 min read
  • Bengali Documents

Uddharan Dutta Thakur (1904)

Siddhanta Darpana of Baladeva Vidyabhushana (Nanda Mishra Commentary)
3 min read
  • BOOK

Siddhanta Darpana of Baladeva Vidyabhushana (Nanda Mishra Commentary)

Higher Bengali Grammar-Vamandev Chakraverty
1 min read
  • Bengali Documents

Higher Bengali Grammar-Vamandev Chakraverty

Unique Transaction Reference number (22-character code) used to uniquely identify a transaction in RTGS system
7 min read
  • BANKING

Unique Transaction Reference number (22-character code) used to uniquely identify a transaction in RTGS system

  • DATABASE
  • INDEX
  • JUDGMENTS
  • CONTACT US
  • DISCLAIMERS
  • RSS
  • PRIVACY
  • ACCOUNT
Copyright by Advocatetanmoy.
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.