Karnataka High Court Upholds Law Transferring First Appeals Against Senior Civil Judges' Decrees To District Courts

The Karnataka High Court has upheld the constitutional validity of the Karnataka Civil Courts (Amendment) Act, 2023 and the Karnataka High Court (Amendment) Act, 2023 that transferred jurisdiction over regular first appeals arising from decrees passed by Senior Civil Judges' courts from the High Court to District Courts. [2026 LiveLaw (Kar) 238]The Division Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha held that litigants do not possess a vested right to have their appeals heard by a particular forum and that the legislature is competent to alter the forum of appeal.At the same time, the Court read down the retrospective operation of the amendments to protect judgments and orders already passed by the High Court in such appeals.“…The view that the legislative amendments introduced by impugned legislations are applicable to the pending proceedings is established for two reasons. First, the forum of appeal is a matter of procedural law, and thus, unless the legislative intent appears otherwise, the said provisions would be presumed to apply retrospectively and govern the pending proceedings. Second, that Section 4 of the Civil Courts Amendment Act expressly provides that the amendments shall come into force retrospectively from 28.08.2007”, the court laid down in unequivocal terms by upholding the effect of amendments.The Court was hearing appeals preferred by litigants from Raichur and Kalaburagi whose Regular First Appeals were transferred to jurisdictional District Courts following the amendments.Earlier, a single judge had struck down only the retrospective effect accorded to the amendments under Section 4 of the Civil Courts Amendment Act. The Division Bench was considering challenges to both the amendments and their implementation.“...We find no difficulty in reading down Section 4 of the Civil Courts Amendment Act so as to exclude from its retrospective operation (i) all appeals that stand concluded by final judgments and orders; and (ii) all orders passed in proceedings that are pending. The retrospective operation of the amendments is thus confined to pending appellate proceedings, which shall be governed by the amended provisions from the current stage till the disposal of the appeals...,” the Court held.The Bench first reiterated that the forum of appeal is a matter of procedural law and does not constitute a vested or substantive right of litigants. Relying on Neena Aneja v. Jai Prakash Associates Limited (2021), the Court observed that changes to appellate forums ordinarily operate retrospectively and govern pending proceedings.“…Once we find that the law regarding the forum of appeal is a matter of procedural law, it would follow that, unless the legislation indicates to the contrary, the law amending the forum of appeal must be presumed to apply retrospectively. Thus, the change in the forum of appeal would also apply to all pending appeals. It would be incongruous that the pending appeals follow a procedure separate from those that are preferred after the enactment of the impugned legislations….” it observed.The Court accordingly held that the amendments would apply to all pending RFAs arising from decrees of Senior Civil Judges' courts, which would now continue before the jurisdictional District Courts from the stage at which they stood transferred.“…Consequently, the pending proceedings will continue from the stage at which they are transferred to the competent court. The proceedings already conducted prior to the enactment of the impugned legislations and as continued by virtue of the interim order dated 03.07.2024, passed by this court, shall not be construed as non-est, illegal or a nullity…”, the court clarified furtherFor context, the Civil Courts and the High Court Amendment Acts increased the pecuniary jurisdiction of civil judges from Rs 5 lakhs to Rs 10 lakhs. Section 19 of the Karnataka Civil Courts Act was substituted to make all RFAs from Senior Civil Judges to go before the District Court instead of the High Court. Moreover, Section 5 of the Karnataka High Court Act was amended to stipulate that all First Appeals would be heard by a Single Judge in the High Court.Significantly, Section 4 of the Civil Courts Amendment Act provided that all amendments would come into force retrospectively with effect from August 28, 2007.The High Court has now authoritatively answered about the amendments and its effect post 2023.“…This compels us to examine the legislative intent behind stipulating that all amendments under the Civil Courts Amendment Act shall be effective retrospectively from 28.08.2007. Plainly, it is to make it explicit that the amendments would apply to all appeals pending as on that date and instituted thereafter. But it is not to nullify the orders passed in those proceedings prior to the impugned legislations coming into force. Those orders and judgments must be construed as saved…”, the court clarified about RFA cases already adjudicated by the High Court...

Karnataka High Court Upholds Law Transferring First Appeals Against Senior Civil Judges' Decrees To District Courts

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Karnataka High Court Upholds Law Transferring First Appeals Against Senior Civil Judges' Decrees To District Courts

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