High Court Cannot Invoke Section 24 CPC To Undo District Court’s Order Allowing Transfer Petition: Rajasthan HC
The Rajasthan High Court observed that an opposite party cannot invoke the jurisdiction of the High Court under Section 24 of the CPC to undo a District Court’s order allowing a transfer petition.
The Court explained that Section 24 of the CPC gave powers to “Superior courts” to withdraw any suit, appeal or other proceedings pending in any Court subordinate to it and either try, dispose of or transfer the same for trial to any Court subordinate to it. However, after a decision to allow such an application by one Court, a second application to challenge that order was not maintainable before the High Court under Section 24 of CPC.
A Single Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Garg observed, “This Court is of the opinion that the jurisdiction of the District Court and the High Court is concurrent under section 24 of the Code, so when a petition for transfer before the District Court fails, the party applying may approach the concurrent jurisdiction of the High Court, under the same provision but the party opposing would be precluded from approaching the High Court under section 24 of the C.P.C. to challenge the order passed by District Court.”
Advocate SL Jain appeared for the petitioners, while Advocate Avin Chhangani represented the respondent.
A transfer petition was filed under Section 24 CPC by the petitioners challenging the order of the District Court by which the transfer petition filed by the respondent under Section 24 CPC was allowed and the main suit was transferred from the Court of Civil Judge (Junior Division) to the court of a Senior Civil Judge.
The respondent raised a preliminary objection involving significant procedural question under CPC as to whether the jurisdiction of the High Court and the District Court under Section 24 of the CPC were concurrent to the extent that after a decision of allowing such application by one Court, a second application to challenge that order is maintainable before the High Court under Section 24 of the CPC or not.
The High Court while clarifying that district and High Court have concurrent jurisdiction under Section 24 of the CPC, held that a failed transfer petition in a district court is precluded from being challenged before the High Court.
The Court referred to the decision of the Allahabad High Court in Jagdish Kumar v. The District Judge (1998) which established that when an application for transfer before the District Court fails, the party applying may approach the concurrent jurisdiction of the High Court under the same provision but the party opposing though may apply for retransfer before the District Judge but cannot challenge the said order under Section 115 of the CPC.
The Court stated that the jurisdiction of the District Court and the High Court was concurrent under section 24 of the CPC, so when a petition for transfer before the District Court failed, the party applying could approach the concurrent jurisdiction of the High Court, under the same provision but the party opposing would be precluded from approaching the High Court under section 24 of the CPC to challenge the order passed by District Court.
Consequently, the Bench observed that “if the petitioner is aggrieved by the order passed by District Judge, it cannot further invoke the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 24 CPC to undo the District Judge’s order. Accordingly, the present transfer petition stands dismissed with liberty to the petitioners to seek appropriate statutory remedy under the law.”
Accordingly, the Rajasthan High Court dismissed the transfer petition.
Cause Title: Shri Jain Swetamwar Sangh Dhamotar & Ors. v. Gajendra Singh (Neutral Citation: 2024:RJ-JD:27056)