K. Valarmathi vs. Kumaresan 2025 INSC 606 - Art. 227 Constitution - Rejection Of Plaint
Constitution of India - Article 227 ; Code of Civil Procedure 1908 - Order VII Rule 11 - Can the High Court in exercise of its supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 reject a plaint? SC held that High Court erred in law invoking the supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution to reject the plaint and observed: Civil Procedure Code is a self-contained Code and Order VII Rule 11 therein enumerates the circumstances in which the trial court may reject a plaint. Such rejection amounts to a deemed decree which is appealable before the High Court under Section 96 of the Code. This statutory scheme cannot be upended by invoking supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 227 to entertain a prayer for rejection of plaint. (Para 10) Essence of the power under Article 227 being supervisory, it cannot be invoked to usurp the original jurisdiction of the court which it seeks to supervise. Nor can it be invoked to supplant a statutory legal remedy under the Civil Procedure Code, 1908. (Para 9)
Constitution of India - Article 227 -Power of the High Court under Article 227 is supervisory and is exercised to ensure courts and tribunals under its supervision act within the limits of their jurisdiction conferred by law. This power is to be sparingly exercised in cases where errors are apparent on the face of record, occasioning grave injustice by the court or tribunal assuming jurisdiction which it does not have, failing to exercise jurisdiction which it does have, or exercising its jurisdiction in a perverse manner. (Para 8)
Procedural law - Procedural law provides the necessary legal infrastructure on which edifice of rule of law is built. Short-circuiting of procedure to reach hasty outcomes is an undesirable propensity of an overburdened judiciary. Such impulses rendering procedural safeguards and substantive rights otiose, subvert certainty and consistency in law and need to be discouraged. (Para 14)
