Order Passed By Bench In Matter Outside Its Roster Would Be Without Jurisdiction And A Nullity: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has held that the order passed by a bench in a matter falling outside the scope of its roster or the matters specifically assigned to it, will be considered as an order passed without jurisdiction and therefore a nullity. The High Court relied on the Supreme Court decision in Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited v Grse Limited Workmens Union and Others (2025) which held that High Court bench cannot hear case without Chief Justice's authorisation, merely based on consent of parties.The Bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice S. Manu observed, “Thus the dicta of the Hon'ble Supreme Court is clear that any order passed in a matter outside the Roster or not specifically assigned would be without jurisdiction and nullity.”The Division Bench was considering an appeal preferred against a Single Judge order disallowing appellant's interim plea for de-freezing its bank account at the instance of Enforcement Directorate. The appellants are engaged in the business of hotel construction and as per ED, one of the hotel properties appeared to have been built using proceeds of crime obtained through unsecured loans. It was also alleged that the proceeds of crime are held in the company's bank accounts.The original petition before the Single Bench was filed as Writ Petition (C). However, the issue was whether it would represent a Civil Writ Petition or a Criminal Writ Petition.The High Court said this determination was important since as per the current roster, civil writ petition and criminal writ petitions are assigned to different bench and the appeal arising from civil writ petition and criminal writ petition is also placed before different Benches."There is a distinction between a Civil Writ Petition and a Criminal Writ Petition...Thus, the enquiry as to whether the writ petition is a Civil Writ Petition or a Criminal Writ Petition is necessary to ascertain whether it falls within the present Roster," the High Court said.The distinction between criminal writ petition and civil writ petition was reported in N. Prakash v Manoj Kumar (2025).The division bench proceeded to observe that the determination will have to done by the Single Judge at the first instance. It added that if the Single Judge comes to a conclusion that the matter is a Criminal writ petition, then the impugned order will become a nullity and the matter will have to be placed as per the Roster; if the Single Judge is of the opinion that it was a civil writ petition, then the impugned order would stand and the appellants can restore their appeal.Counsel for the Appellants: Advocates R. Jaikrishna, Akhil Shaji, Anish P., C. S. Arun Shankar, Narayani HarikrishnanCounsel for the Respondents: Advocates Krishna T.C., C. K. Karunakaran, Akshara RajuCase No: WA 556 of 2025Case Title: Trivandrum Apollo Towers Pvt. Ltd and Another v Union of India and OthersCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 262Click Here To Read/ Download Order

Order Passed By Bench In Matter Outside Its Roster Would Be Without Jurisdiction And A Nullity: Kerala High Court

Manju Elsa Isac

Tags