written by
T.Krishnamoorthi, B.Com., B.L.,
Addl. Registrar (Ret’d.) & Advocate
The book titled “Compendium on High Court Procedure” has been authored by Mr.T.Krishnamoorthi, who is well known for his tremendous knowledge on the laws and procedures on Original side and Appellate side more particularly in the High Court has presented this book and brought into light the High Court procedures crisply and aptly to make the readers understand the subject quite easily.
The Foreword for the book is written by Justice M.M.Sundresh, Judge, Supreme Court of India. In the Foreword, the judge has congratulated the author for his present publication and described him as a remarkably experienced person who has worked in different capacities in the Government during his long years of service and at present engaged as the Curator of the Madras High Court Museum. A man with a penchant for writing, he has already published an informative “Compendium on High Court Procedure” 12 years ago. An indomitable spirit, with an eye for perfection, he has always taken pains to ensure that work, reflects all contemporary changes.
The author in this book has informed us about the High Court’s powers on the Appellate Side, in civil matters, exercises a variety of powers, the power of Appeal against the Original and Appellate Decrees and Orders of Sub-ordinate Courts under the Civil Procedure Code, the power of appeal under the Letters Patent and several other Special Enactments, the power of revision under the Code of Civil Procedure, the Constitution of India and other Special Enactments, the power to issue prerogative Writs under the Constitution and the power to punish for contempt under the Contempt of Courts Act.
He tells us that originally all the proceedings on the Appellate Side of the High Court, both civil and criminal, were presented in the Appeal Examiners’ section. Later on due to increase in the inflow of writ petitions from the year 1981, the need for a separate Writ Section was felt, constituted and commenced functioning from 1-4-1984. From then onwards, procedures and matters related to writ petitions were dealt with in the writ section.
The author further explains to us the present procedures adopted on the Appellate Side, institution of proceeding by Party-in-Person and the rules and regulations relating thereto stipulated by the High Court.
The book gives us the full extract of the Conduct of Proceedings by Party-in-Person namely, “The High Court of Madras (Conduct of Proceedings by Party-in-Person) Rules, 2019, which is quite useful for the readers to read and understand all the 11 Rules involved in the cases presented by the Party-in- Persons in the High Court. It further consists of Form A and Form B seeking permission to appear as Party-in-Person and also Undertaking by him/her.
The author has meticulously presented to us the General Provisions applicable to all catergories of Cases under which he has elaborated about the Scrutiny of Civil cases, which shall be followed by the Appeal Examiners as a mandatory procedure prescribed by the Madras High Court. Thus the procedures not only for the Appeal Examiners to follow, but also make all Advocates to understand the approach of the Appeal Examiners and keep in mind such requisites while presenting the petitions, appeals, etc.
The book further gives us the Format of petitions in appeals, and the explanations of the contents and their significance. Every such explanation or prescription is presented by the author with Reference to Circulars, which proves it as an authoritative reference by all concerned.
The author has quoted certain instances and situations and the solution suggested by him by way of case-laws or relevant references and the same can be dealt with by practising Advocates while coming across similar situations in their clients’ matters.
Limitation aspect is discussed clearly and aptly alongwith the computation method to be applied. Relevant citations are provided for ready reference on Limitation. Various petty topics such as Court fees, Condone delay in re-representation, enclosures, vakalath, batta, T & P Application, etc.
The format and procedures on Original Side Appeals, Writ Appeals, Revision, Civil Miscellaneous Appeals and Appeals, Revisions and Reviews under Tax Laws, Appeals before Special Tribunals and such others are discussed elaborately in the book with intrinsic details, which is unique presentation. Court fee refunds under relevant provisions are given in the book, which helps readers to follow the procedures to claim refunds with ease. The author has put in explanatory notes in a lucid language which makes any advocate to understand easily and quickly. However, due to non-indexation of the contents of the book, the readers may have to browse the book for any required information, which is a drawback. In the next edition, indexation may be done.
The publication is useful referencer of all lawyers practising in the State of Tamil Nadu.
The publication is very reasonably priced just at Rs.300/- and it is neatly brought out by M/s.CTC Publications Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, who are also publishers of popular law journal “Current Tamilnadu Cases (CTC)”.
A.M.O.Gurunarayana Rao Advocate & Course Director, JATA