The Supreme Court held that High Courts lacked the jurisdiction to grant an interim order at that stage of the second appeal without framing the substantial question of law as required by Section 100 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908.
The case originated from a suit filed by C. Yashoda, the respondent, before a Trial Court, seeking a permanent injunction over the disputed property. The Trial Judge passed an order in her favour. Subsequently, the First Appellate Court set aside the Trial Court’s judgement. Challenging this decision, the respondent filed a second appeal before the Andhra Pradesh High Court at Amravati, which passed an interim order without formulating any substantial question of law.
The Supreme Court set aside the High Court’s order, clarifying that the existence of a substantial question of law is a sine qua non for the High Court’s jurisdiction in a second appeal. It relied on precedents such as Raghavendra Swamy Mutt v Uttaradi Mutt (2016), which upheld this view. Referring to Manohar Lal Chopra v Rai Bahadur Rao Raja Seth Hiralal (1961), the Court reiterated that the inherent power under Section 151 of the CPC cannot override explicit mandates of the Code.
Keywords/phrase: Inherent powers—Civil Procedure Code, 1908—interim order—substantial question of law—sine qua non—ad interim—Section 100
Read the Judgement here.
Sudheera v C. Yashoda
17 January 2025
Citation: 2025 INSC 80 | 2025 SCO.LR 1(3)[14]
Bench: Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan
Case Comment
Held: Interim order passed by the High Court set aside – High Court cannot grant an interim order, without framing substantial question of law as required to be framed u/s.100 – It acquires jurisdiction to deal with the second appeal on merits only when it frames a substantial question of law u/s.100 – If no substantial question of law arises, the second appeal cannot be entertained and ought to be dismissed, as the jurisdiction of the High Court itself is not yet invoked. [Paras 10.2, 10.4]
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