INDIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Anuradha Mukherjee, Omar Ahmad, Vikram Shah and Soumya Dasgupta, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments Please see 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation . An appellate court shall have the power to finally determine a case, to remand a case, to frame issues and refer to trial, and to take additional evidence. An appeal can also be made to the Supreme Court under Section 109 read with Order XLV of the CPC against a judgment, decree or final order passed in a civil proceeding of a High Court. However, an appeal to the Supreme Court will only lie, once the High Court certifies that the case involves a substantial question of law of general importance, and if the High Court is of the opinion that the question needs to be decided by the Supreme Court. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal Procedure Appeals are made in the form of a memorandum, which is to be signed by the appellant or their pleader, and must be accompanied by a copy of the challenged decree. It should include the grounds of objection. If the appeal is against a money decree, the appellant may have to deposit the amount in dispute or furnish security of such amount, as the court may direct. The mere filing of the appeal does not by itself result in a stay of the operation of the challenged decree. A separate application seeking a stay of the impugned decree has to be made; the appellate court may stay the operation of the decree upon sufficient cause being shown war- ranting stay.
Once an appeal is filed, the appellate court shall fix a date for the hearing of the appeal, and the appellant will be required to serve notice on the respondent regarding the appeal and the date fixed for its hearing. A notice of the appeal shall also be sent by the appellate court to the court that passed the impugned decree. Time Period for Filing an Appeal Under the ILA, the periods of limitation to file an appeal are as follows: • 90 days for an appeal from a subordinate court to the High Court; • 30 days for an appeal to any other court; and • 30 days for an appeal from the High Court (Single Judge Bench) to the same court (Divi- sion Bench). However, courts have discretion to condone a delay in filing if a party shows sufficient cause for their failure to file the appeal within the pre- scribed time period. 10.4 Issues Considered by the Appeal Court at an Appeal First Appeal For a first appeal, the court can consider issues of both fact and law. The court can consider whether there is an error of law or fact in the lower court judgment or whether the judgment of the lower court suffers from any procedural irregularities, including violation of the principles
of natural justice. Second Appeal
In the case of a second appeal (ie, against an appellate decree), the High Court has to con- sider and be satisfied whether the case involves a substantial question of law. The High Court will also have to determine if there is any issue
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