Legal Reference Library

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has held that an appellate court cannot dismiss an appeal exercising its jurisdiction under Section 386, unless the matter has been decided on merits. Justice SB Shukre allowed a writ petition challenging a sessions court order dated June 28, 2016, wherein an appeal was dismissed on default for failure to deposit paper book charges. At the very outset, the court laid out the settled law in terms of the position of a criminal not being the same as in the case of a civil appeal governed by the Civil Procedure Code. It was held by the Supreme Court in Kishan Singh vs State of Uttar Pradesh that the “criminal procedure requires in express terms, the matter to be considered on merit and therefore, a criminal cannot be non-suited for non-prosecution”. Although GR Kothari, counsel for one of the respondents, cited another apex court order wherein an appeal was dismissed due to failure on part of the appellant or his counsel, the high court foun...

In Laliteshwar Prasad Singh Vs. S.P. Srivastava (D) thr. Lrs., an appeal arose before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India out of the judgment of High Court of Patna in First Appeal reversing the judgment of the trial court. The Hon'ble Supreme Court set aside the impugned judgment of the High Court and remitted the matter back to the High Court for consideration of the matter afresh and held that it is well settled that the first appellate court shall state the points for determination, the decision thereon and the reasons for decision. However, it is equally well settled that mere omission to frame point/points for determination does not vitiate the judgment of the first appellate court provided that the first appellate court records its reasons based on evidence adduced by both the parties. An appellate court is the final court of facts. The judgment of the appellate court must therefore reflect court’s application of mind and record its findings supported by reasons. The ...