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Supreme Court of India

NIRMA LTD.versusM/S. LURGI LENTJES ENERGIETECHNIK GHBH AND ANR.

Citation
2002 INSC 23
Decided
14 January 2002
Disposal
Dismissed

Holding

A Special Leave Petition under Article 136 is not maintainable where an efficacious alternative remedy of revision under Section 115 of the CPC is available, even though a second appeal is barred by Section 37(3) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act.

Summary

Nirma Ltd. filed a Special Leave Petition under Article 136 of the Constitution seeking to appeal an order of the City Civil Court, Ahmedabad, which had decided an appeal under sub‑section (2) of Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The petition raised the question of whether a second appeal is barred by sub‑section (3) of the same section and whether the petitioner could instead seek a revision under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The Supreme Court held that the bar on a second appeal does not extinguish the remedy of revision, as the City Civil Court is subordinate to the High Court within the meaning of Section 115 CPC. Since an efficacious alternate remedy of revision is available, the Special Leave Petition was not maintainable. The Court dismissed the petition and directed the petitioner to file a revision, allowing exclusion of the time spent before the Supreme Court for limitation purposes.

Issues considered

  • Whether a Special Leave Petition under Article 136 is maintainable when a revision under Section 115 of the CPC is available as an alternate remedy.
  • Whether the bar on a second appeal under Section 37(3) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act precludes filing a revision.
  • Whether the City Civil Court is a court subordinate to the High Court for the purpose of invoking Section 115 of the CPC.

Legislation cited

Subjects

ArbitrationSecond appealRevisionSpecial Leave PetitionArticle 136CPCSection 37Appellate jurisdiction

Judgment

                                            NIRMA LTD.                                         A
                                                   v.
                 MIS. LURGI LENTJES ENERGIETECHNIK GHBH AND ANR.

                                        JANUARY 14, 2002

                         [R.C. LAHOTI AND K.G. BALAKRISHNAN, JJ.]                              B

    •             Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 :

                  Ss. 37(2) and (3)-Appellate order-Revision against before High
            Court~Maintainability of-Held, special leave petition ·would not be C
            entertained in as much as an efficacious alternate remedy is available to the
            petitioner by way offiling a revision in the High Court under s. 115 of the
            Code a/Civil Procedure. Merely because a second appeal against an appellate
            order is barred by the provisions ofsub-s. (3) ofs. 37, the remedy of revision
            does not cease to be available to the petitioner, for the City Civil Court D
            deciding an appeal under sub.s. (2) of s. 37 remains a court subordinate to
            the High Court within the meaning ofs. l/5 of the C.P.C.-Code a/Civil
            Procedure, 1908-S. 115-Constitution of India-Article 136.

                  Shyam Sunder Agarwal and Co. v. Union of India, (1996( 2 SCC 132,
            relied on.                                                                         E
                 CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Special Leave Petition (C) No.
            22106 of2001.

                From the Judgment and Order dated 21.8.2001 of the City Civil Court at
•       •   Ahmedabad in C.M.A.No. 155 of2001.                                                 F
                 Ashok Desai, Dr. A.M. Singhvi, D.A. Dave, P.S. Shroff, Sunil Dogra,
            Jayant Mehta for Suresh A. Shroff and Co. for the Petitioner.

                 P. Chidambaram, Robin Jaisinghani and Shyel Trehan for Ms. Indu
            Malhotra for the Respondents.                                                      G
                  The following Order of the Court was delivered :

                  This is a petition under Article 136 of the Constitution of India, seeking
            leave to file civil appeal against an appellate order of City Civil Court No. 11
                                                  911                                          H
    912                    SUPREME COURT REPORTS                     [2002] 3 S.C.R.

A Ahmedabad, 'passed under sub-Section (2) of Section 37 of the Arbitration
    and Conciliation Act, 1996. We are not inclined to entertain this special leave
    petition inasmuch as, in our opinion, an efficacious alternate remedy is available
    to the petitioner by way of filing a revision in the High Court under Section
    115 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Merely because a second appeal against
B   an appellate order is barred by the provisions of sub-Section (3) of Section
    37, the remedy of revision does not cease to be available to the petitioner,
    for the City Civil Court deciding an appeal under sub-Section (2) of Section
    37 remains a court subordinate to the High Court within the meaning of
    Section 115 of the C.P.C. In taking this view, we find support from a decision
    of this Court in Shyam Sunder Agarwal and Co. v. Union of India, [1996] 2
C sec 132. ·
           The special leave petition is, therefore, dismissed. The petitioner may
    file a revision before the High Court and in calculating the limitation, the
    petitioner shall be entitled to exclusion of time spent in this Court, i.e.,
    between the date of filing of the special leave petition and today.
D
    RP.                                                          Petition dismissed.


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