Rajasthan High Court Converts S.24 HMA Appeals Into Writ Petitions Amid Uncertainty On Maintainability; Says Justice Cannot Wait

In the background of uncertainty on the question of maintainability of appeals against orders passed under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (1955 Act), the Rajasthan High Court converted the pending appeals to writ petitions to ensure expeditious disposal and speedy justice. The division bench of Justice Arun Monga and Justice Sunil Beniwal observed that the issue of maintainability being the subject of the pending reference had a direct bearing on the jurisdiction of the Court to decide the appeals. At the same time, it was stated that the principle of justice delayed justice denied, could not be ignored. The Court was hearing a bunch of appeals against the orders of the Family Court passed under Section 24 of the 1955 Act. And a common objection raised by the respondents in all these appeal was that the appeals were not maintainable against the orders passed under Section 24 of the 1955 Act since the nature of such orders was interlocutory. The Court perused judicial precedents in relation to this issue, and referred to the case of the Kavitya Vyas v Deepak Dave, in which the full bench of the Court had decided that appeal lied against the orders passed under Section 24. However, in another case of Amit Vyas v Pramila Ranjan, the division bench raised doubts about the full bench decision and referred the question to a larger bench. The Court highlighted that this larger bench was yet to be constituted and hence the final answer to the question was still awaited and remained in the state of uncertainty. In this background, the Court held that since the matter was still yet to be decided by a larger bench, it would be inappropriate for the Court to adjudicate these appeals either on the question of maintainability or on merits. “In such a situation, judicial discipline and propriety require that we refrain from rendering a determination which may pre-empt or conflict with the decision to be rendered by the Larger Bench. Accordingly, the question relating to jurisdiction and maintainability ought to await its determination thereof by the Larger Bench, upon resolution of the reference and not by us.”At the same time, the Court said that the expeditious disposal of litigation was a matter of larger public interest, and decided that in order to avoid further delay, the matters shall be disposed of under the writ jurisdiction of the Court. Accordingly, the appeals were remanded to the Registry to be re-registered as single bench petitions and listed for hearing. Title: Kaushlya Soni v Ravikant Soni, and other connected appealsCitation: 2026 LiveLaw (Raj) 130Click Here To Read/Download Order

Rajasthan High Court Converts S.24 HMA Appeals Into Writ Petitions Amid Uncertainty On Maintainability; Says Justice Cannot Wait

Nupur Agrawal

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