The Supreme Court of India clarified that litigants must adhere to the proper legal hierarchy when appealing decisions made by single-judge benches of High Courts. This ruling reaffirms that appeals against the decisions of a single judge must first be presented before a division bench of the same High Court, rather than directly approaching the Supreme Court.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court criticized a party for circumventing the Orissa High Court‘s division bench by directly appealing a single-judge’s decision to the apex court. A Bench comprising Justices PV Sanjay Kumar and Augustine George Masih stated,
“My colleague and I are unequivocally clear that such procedural bypasses cannot be permitted. Allowing it in your case would set a precedent for others to do the same.”
The Supreme Court reviewing an appeal from the Registrar of the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, contesting a 2023 order by a single judge of the High Court that directed the regularisation of Class IV employees at the University.
Read Also: Supreme Court Challenges Lawyer Enrolment Fees
This case had seen previous legal battles. Initially, in 2021, a single judge had instructed the appellants to consider regularising the employees’ services. This decision then contested before a division bench, which sent the matter back to a single judge for reconsideration. On May 3, 2023, the single judge ruled against the appellants.
Rather than appealing to the division bench, the appellants took their case directly to the Supreme Court.
On January 12 of this year, a bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and Aravind Kumar had issued a notice regarding the appeal and suspended the contempt proceedings against the appellants for not regularizing the services of the respondent employees.
When the case reviewed , the Court indicated its initial inclination to reject the appeal.
Justice Kumar asked Advocate Naveen Kumar, who was representing the appellants,
“Is it permissible to bypass the division bench of the High Court and directly appeal a Single-judge’s decision to the Supreme Court? This is the second round of litigation, and now that the Single-judge has ruled against you on merits, you chose to approach us directly instead of the division bench of the High Court,”
Kumar mentioned that the notice had been issued by a different bench in this matter.
Read Also: Supreme Court Rejects Continued Court Monitoring in Dabholkar Case
However, Justice Kumar promptly replied,
“This is a different bench, and you should have anticipated our inquiries. It is unfortunate that the previous bench did not provide any reasons, but our stance is very clear.”
Upon Advocate Kumar’s request to schedule the matter after the vacation, the Court ordered the case to be listed in July. It also instructed that the interim protection for the appellants should remain in place until the next hearing.