Appeals To Commercial Appellate Division Lie From Orders Passed Under HC Rules : Delhi HC [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court recently had the occasion to examine the scope of Appellate Jurisdiction of the Commercial Courts under Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (hereinafter "Act") in the case of 'D&H India Ltd. V Superon Schweisstechnik India Ltd.' (hereinafter the "Superon Judgment") [being FAO (OS)(COMM) 237/2019, decided on 16.03.2020]. In a nutshell, the Delhi High Court has inter alia held that Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act (under Chapter IV, Appeals) entitles any person aggrieved by the judgment or order of a Commercial Division of a High Court to prefer an appeal to the Commercial Appellate Division of that High Court (within a period of 60 days from the date of the judgment or order) against Judgments or Orders passed in the following cases-A)Orders passed by the Commercial Division/Commercial Court that are specifically enumerated under Order XLIII (Order 43) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (hereinafter "CPC, 1908") as amended by the Commercial Courts Act[1];B)Orders passed by the Commercial Division/Commercial Court under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter "Arbitration Act, 1996")[2];C)Orders passed by the Commercial Division/Commercial Court which have 'not been passed under any of the provisions of the CPC' or have been passed under the Delhi High Court Rules, 2018[3].For ease of reference, Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 provides for the following- "13. Appeals from decrees of Commercial Courts and Commercial Divisions.—(1) Any person aggrieved by the judgment or order of a Commercial Court below the level of a District Judge may appeal to the Commercial Appellate Court within a period of sixty days from the date of judgment or order. (1A) Any person aggrieved by the judgment or order of a Commercial Court at the level of District Judge exercising original civil jurisdiction or, as the case may be, Commercial Division of a High Court may appeal to the Commercial Appellate Division of that High Court within a period of sixty days from the date of the judgment or order;Provided that an appeal shall lie from such orders passed by a Commercial Division or a Commercial Court that are specifically enumerated under Order XLIII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 as amended by this Act and section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force or Letters Patent of a High Court, no appeal shall lie from any order or decree of a Commercial Division or Commercial Court otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of this Act." It will be seen that while the Commercial Courts Act already provided that Section 13 of the said Act can be invoked to assail Judgements or Orders passed under (A) and (B) above, the Superon judgment appears to have added another category [being (C) above] of Judgments and Orders which can be assailed under Section 13. The Superon Judgment assumes significance inasmuch as the Delhi High Court had earlier, in the case of 'HPL (India) Limited and Ors. V QRG Enterprises and Anr.' [being FAO (OS)(COMM) No. 12/2017] (hereinafter the "HPL Judgment") had held that the Appealable Orders under Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 are 'restricted to those orders' which are specifically enumerated in Order 43 of CPC, 1908 and Section 37 of the Arbitration Act, i.e. the situations in (A) and (B) above only[4]. Relevant Facts and arguments in SuperonSuperon Schweisstechnik India Ltd. (hereinafter "Plaintiff/Respondent") filed a Civil Commercial Suit being CS(COMM) 665/2017 against D&H India Ltd. (hereinafter "Defendant/Appellant") seeking permanent injunction against the Defendant/Appellant from infringing the Trade Mark 'SUPERON' of the Plaintiff. On 03.08.2018, the Plaintiff/Respondent filed an Application under Order VI, Rule 17 of the CPC, 1908 seeking certain amendments to amend its Plaint. Vide an Order dated 25.04.2019, the said Application of the Plaintiff/Respondent was allowed by the Ld. Joint Registrar (Judicial).The Order dated 25.04.2019 was carried in Appeal by the Defendant/Appellant by way of the Statutory Appeal before the Ld. Single Judge on the Original Side of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court under Rule 5 in Chapter II of the Delhi High Court Rules (Original Side), 2018 (hereinafter "the 2018 Rules"). The said Appeal was dismissed by the Ld. Single Judge vide an Order dated 03.07.2019. Thus, the Order dated 03.07.2019 was assailed in Appeal by the Defendant/Appellant before the Division Bench of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court.The Plaintiff/Respondent raised a Preliminary Objection before the Division Bench that in view of the HPL Judgment that the said Appeal was not maintainable inasmuch as the proviso to Section 13 (1A) of the ...

Appeals To Commercial Appellate Division Lie From Orders Passed Under HC Rules : Delhi HC [Read Order]

Vipul Kumar

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